Youkai gone astray
by IncandescentOne
Summary: Now half demon, Naruto has to deal with his life being turned upside down while he lives in the place that made him that way. Naruto also struggles between getting strong to prove himself to the one who saved him, Sesshoumaru and attempting to have a life
1. Youkai gone astray

Youkai gone Astray

Summary: After Sesshoumaru's fight with Inuyasha at their father's grave, his hasty escape from the near-death realm takes him far from home to a different land of humans and demons. In this land the strange boy he meets will give him insight into the life of his own brother. Because Naruto is part demon too.

For anyone who hasn't seen Inuyasha, some facts.

Sesshoumaru is full Youkai (demon)

Inuyasha is part Youkai, a Hanyou (half demon)

Youki is the demon version of Chakra

Sesshoumaru finds out that the key to the dimension where their father's grave is, resides within Inuyasha's eye, after extracting it with some magic, they travel to the grave site, Inuyasha and Kagome follow. They fight there, Inuyasha gets Tessaiga, which Sesshoumaru wanted, as he sees Tenseiga as useless, it can't harm anything. Inuyasha even with Tessaiga is losing their fight, Sesshoumaru transforms into a giant dog demon to tip the tides. Inuyasha gets a burst of strength from shouting at Kagome that he will protect her, then dodges a claw swipe and slashes Sesshoumaru's arm off. Sesshoumaru turns into a ball of white light (how he travels rly fast) and flies off through the portal.

---)(---

Sesshoumaru lay in a clearing surrounded by unfamiliar trees, leaning up against one such tree in fact. Though that was the least of his worries. Currently he was severely pained by the now stump of what was his left arm, a heinous wound he had received only minutes ago at the hands, or more precisely the blade of his estranged brother, Inuyasha.

The wound itself was actually also of little overall consequence to the Demon Lord, for it would heal, his life was in no danger. He could perhaps have used his sword Tenseiga, a gift from his father, to revive his arm. But none of that had crossed his mind as of yet, like any good warrior he was almost instinctually putting the pain out of his mind.

Currently Sesshoumaru was frustrated and anxious. He was unable to understand how his Hanyou brother, Inuyasha had become so powerful. His brother had been weak. When he reached puberty, the time that his Youkai powers should manifest, he had still been weak, running pitifully from not even low-class demons but _humans_. Surely he had not inherited the strength of their father and the _human_ who had tainted his blood in Inuyasha was the cause of this. Inuyasha's human side was his weakness, his reason for not having any powers, he was just a pitiful human.

Sesshoumaru is not so arrogant as to dismiss all humans out of hand. He had met a few whose souls possessed great power, much like a powerful Youkai may be born to a weak Youkai, it is but happenstance, but it happens. However Inuyasha had possessed no such radiant power of the soul, he had been pitiful.

So why now, when Sesshoumaru had been so _close_ to Tessaiga, the sword of _power_, the sword that was _rightfully his_ had Inuyasha become so strong as to be able to stand up to him.

Sesshoumaru was tempted to write off Inuyasha's increase in power as the work of Tessaiga, but was not entirely certain yet. For in their battles preceding Inuyasha's acquiring of the blade, there had been moments when Inuyasha's abilities had risen, for no reason Sesshoumaru could Fathom.

Certainly, he had not been infected with one of those disgusting Jewel shards, nor had he stolen power from another Youkai, or been blessed in any manner. In fact it appeared as if the Priestess had _cursed_ him with some inane necklace, yet still Inuyasha had somehow fended Sesshoumaru off at more than one turn.

If this truly was the work of the Tessaiga then the blade was truly more powerful than he had expected and as such should most definitely not be in the hands of someone so lowly, a disgrace to their proud heritage.

If however Inuyasha's increase in abilities were due to his own strength, would it be then that Sesshoumaru had been incorrect in his assessment. Perhaps the human's blood had hindered his Youkai side, but not fully suppressed the great power their blood possessed, as the heirs of the Lord of Dogs. But then his sporadic fluctuations in power would make little sense. There was no extra skill involved and it was known that Youkai cannot simply become more powerful. They are what they are, the best a Youkai may do is acquire skill and finesse in the use of their abilities, to become efficient, or to acquire a source of power. Sesshoumaru preferred the use of a demonic blade, but there were other methods. However a Youkai cannot simply grow _stronger_ for no reason.

---)(---

Uzumaki Naruto was most probably amongst the best known people of the village of Konohagakure, though his was not fame like the legendary ninja or the Hokage, leader of their military and overseer of the village. No his was infamy of source unknown to him, and it brought not praise but scorn.

Uzumaki Naruto was ten years old and skipping class at the Academy. His teacher there, some evil woman, did not care if he were not there and if he were, she did not care to teach him anything. As such Uzumaki Naruto was headed to the forest, one of his favourite palaces for there was nobody there to harass him.

Today was a nice and bright sunny day, Naruto liked the sun, its brightness comforted him like he imagined someone's embrace might. Surely enough he had witnessed crying children be embraced by a parent, he imagined that the way the suns rays warmed his skin like the fleeting touch of something silky and warm, perhaps that is what that was like.

As such Naruto was on his way to a clearing. Surely not his favourite clearing. But his favourite clearing lay further away and near a monument. As such is was often taken, whereas his destination was never taken. Naruto was feeling down after the severerity of his encounter with his teacher so he was looking forward to basking in the sunlight.

As Naruto entered the clearing he was startled to find that there was someone there, in the shade, which Naruto couldn't particularly understand. He was so surprised when he noticed this stranger that he actually jumped a little.

The only sign that the stranger had even noticed Naruto was present was a flickering of his nose as he sharply sniffed the air.

As Naruto approached him warily, the strangers' brilliant golden eyes spun to lock onto Naruto's. They were magnificent and majestic and wholly unnerving. However the stranger hadn't acted hostile yet and so Naruto decided that it was worth a risk and kept going.

Sesshoumaru however was quietly contemplative as he observed a young boy stumble into the clearing and become spooked, then continue to approach his person. Upon taking in his scent Sesshoumaru noticed that the boy did not smell entirely human, in much the same way that Inuyasha's scent was a mix between Youkai and human, this boy's scent too was not entirely human. Though the other part of his scent was most likely Youkai, it was not of any type Sesshoumaru had encountered before, and as such his curiosity was piqued.

Upon closer inspection the boy seemed to bear the marks of possession by a fox Youkai, even though the smell was not that of any type of fox Youkai he had encountered before, it was enough evidence to show that the boy was not actually part demon, and as such his curiosity abated and he went back to his musings, ignoring the boy, now deemed insignificant.

Naruto was slightly relieved when the stranger's eyes turned from him, the intimidation he felt from those eyes was gone and he felt slightly emboldened due to this and that the stranger was seemingly comfortable in his presence, or didn't care either way. But that worked too, so Naruto carried on, ever so slowly, so as not to invoke any form of wrathful reaction.

As Naruto came from the right side of the stranger to a somewhat frontward's position, even though the stranger was turned away, to his left. It was enough for Naruto to notice the blood stain on the otherwise pristine and rather gorgeous silk robes the stranger was wearing.

Immediately forgetting his nervousness Naruto rushed around to the side where the wound was, also back into the line of sight of the stranger, however careful not to poke or prod lest he make it worse. He frantically asked the stranger. "Hey, are you okay? Is your arm okay?" Gesticulating rather emphatically to the blood on the stranger's sleeve.

Sesshoumaru turned to look directly into the strange boy's eyes, now slightly annoyed as this weak child was now pointing out the evidence of his short-comings, he replied arrogantly. "This Sesshoumaru has no need for your concern, human."

Naruto didn't seem to get that he was being dismissed, and should probably be gone, pronto. Instead Naruto thought that meant that he wasn't in immediate danger, and so decided the best thing to do now was to either get him to the hospital or get some bandages, Ninja always had bandages for stuff like this, and Ninja were the coolest! Therefore that was the best way to solve it. "Okay, hey, want me to take you to the hospital?" Naruto gesticulated in the direction of Konoha, though Sesshoumaru was paying him no mind.

Sesshoumaru grew tired of the boy's active presence in his peripheral vision and turned once again to look directly at him. "This Sesshoumaru has no need for your human hospitals." Again he turned away, more confident that this time the boy would have gotten the hint and go away.

Naruto however had again misinterpreted what he meant. To Naruto this meant there was no need to go to the hospital, because some field dressing would do. Naruto hadn't thought the situation through well enough to notice the lack of dent in the clothing to denote any arm further down, and had assumed there was a gash of some sort in the strangers bicep. Easily solved! Naruto got up and quickly declared his intentions. "Right, no need for hospitals, I'll go get you some bandages." And promptly ran off.

Sesshoumaru didn't deign to look towards the fleeting figure, already having deduced that whatever these 'bandages' were, he would be in receipt of them soon from the child. And decided he would have to be more blunt in his dismissal at that time. And so he got back to his musings, attempting to process this new information which conflicted with his knowledge of the world.

---)(---

A while later Naruto stumbled into the clearing. He had gone to the hospital to get some bandages for the stranger. First he was merely told to go away, but when he mentioned someone being hurt he was accused of having hurt that person and chased away, which involved some bruising and rather hurtful words. After that Naruto decided that it didn't matter if they didn't like him, he was helping someone, and that the rather regal looking stranger would definitely thank him and be nice to him, and maybe even make other people like him for his fabulous deed, and as such he most definitely _had_ to get some bandages.

He had then, obviously, snuck into the hospital and stolen some bandages. On his way out however, one of the medic-nin who had shouted at Naruto earlier had spotted him and called the alarm, grossly exaggerating the deeds Naruto had performed. From what he had overheard, Naruto had attempted to kill, or eat a patient. Wrecked something with a really long name which he had forgotten, and stolen lots of stuff with long names too. Though he didn't hear them mention bandages, so he figured if he could pass those off as his own, he should maybe be okay. Especially if he were to get to the stranger first, so they could see he was doing good.

As such he had quadruple-timed it over to the clearing, Chuunin inside-village patrols hot in pursuit. He then stumbled wearily into the clearing presenting the bandages to the stranger with hope and pride and a really big smile.

Sesshoumaru was mildly disgusted that the human would present itself to him in such a haggard state and look so hopeful, as if he should be impressed. And what were those raggedy strips of cloth? Surely the human did not presume to fix his robes with such haggard pieces of cloth. They looked as if the boy himself could tear them apart.

However, Sesshoumaru heard the noises of fast approaching humans and deigned to turn in the direction of the human, perhaps the child had brought help of some sort, more humans. Sesshoumaru was no longer willing to tolerate the boy's presumptuous behaviour, not only that but he was still not yet fully recovered, his Youki was focused primarily on healing his wound and as such his fighting capabilities were at a significant low. Feeling insecure, though he was so unaccustomed that he was entirely unaware that he was in fact feeling insecure, led him to feel angry at the human brat, how dare he bring more humans here to intrude or make nuisances of themselves.

As such Sesshoumaru put into practice his earlier plan, and much more bluntly told the human child to leave him alone and take the others with him. "Human, I have no desire for your presence or those scraps of cloth. Be gone from here and leave me in peace." Sesshoumaru was polite and well spoken, but the way his eyes flashed to red made it clear that he was very serious.

Naruto, most definitely spooked due to the eyes and the apparent rejection, quickly fled. Adrenalin from his earlier chase still fresh within his blood he made it quite a distance before the Chuunin caught up to him.

---)(---

Hours later Sesshoumaru was fully healed, well. His arm was severed at the bicep and it did not appear that he would be able to re-grow it. Even so Sesshoumaru decided not to try re-growing his arm under any outside power. He would battle Inuyasha at their next meeting and be victorious, proving his superiority, even through any wounds Inuyasha may have inflicted, Sesshoumaru was nothing if not prideful.

Sesshoumaru also took great pride in his robes, which denoted him of Lordly stature, they were also made of very fine silk from a rather rare form of moth demon, they had no special properties other than being extremely sturdy and even more extremely fine. They were also torn around his wound, not to mention stained by his blood. Luckily their sturdiness included not being affected by his acidic blood, another reason why he liked them.

Due to the fact he was most obviously not in his lands, where he expected to have come to having fled the portal, he would most likely not see Inuyasha for a long time. As such his robes were top on his priorities, seconded by finding out where exactly he was. With this in mind Sesshoumaru followed the scent of the human boy, assuming he lived in a village of some sort, for his garish orange clothing would require more skill to produce than any infant would possess. He hoped to find a skilled seamstress there whom he would allow to fix his robes, which then with a good infusion of Youki would seem as if they had never been damaged, and also since they were residents, they would know of their location.

It was not long into following this trail that Sesshoumaru came across a rather disturbing sight. Sprawled half way out of a trodden bush was the boy with the signs of fox possession, a strange miniature blade of some sort protruding from his back and a trail of blood going towards a nearby tree from his neck area.

From the smells of the area Sesshoumaru concluded three humans, angry with the child for some reason, no, enraged with him, they had beaten him and lavished his torture, as the scent of his fear being so strong would suggest this was not a slow event. They had then slit his throat and stabbed him in the back as he had attempted to flee through a bush cradling his throat.

As Sesshoumaru stood there he was shocked to discover that Tenseiga was beginning to pulse with energy, as if in anticipation for fulfilling some purpose. Though his was a blade incapable of cutting anyone, not to mention the only beings around were himself and a dead human boy.

Sesshoumaru approached the boy, to see whether Tenseiga would react more strongly, or if it were a coincidence. Now only two paces from the boy, Tenseiga was indeed reacting far more strongly and also, the faint presence of Youki permeated the air, though it was different from any Youki he had felt before, it smelled of rage as if that were an ingredient rather than an emotion present within the source of the Youki.

Bending down to the boy it smelled as if the source were coming from his stomach. Carefully grabbing a clean piece of the boy's clothing at the shoulder and using it to roll him over, Sesshoumaru found the source of the Youki to be a currently fading spiral with some odd triangle formations framing it. As he reached his hand toward the strange marking Tenseiga pulsed fiercely, so much so that Sesshoumaru was forced through curiosity alone to see what the sword was so intent upon. Standing straight and clasping the sword within his hand, Sesshoumaru immediately noticed a shadowy figure lurking above the boy. As Sesshoumaru withdrew the sword from the sheath, made specifically to contain its power - though Sesshoumaru had seen no evidence of such power – Sesshoumaru saw the figure come into view almost as if it were being coloured in black and white before him.

When Sesshoumaru had learned of the underworld from his father he was told that little sprite or goblin like creatures which served death would come for the souls of the dead, and that until the body was completely gone, the soul would still be attached, so theoretically if one were to stop the imps, the soul may be drawn back into the body. Discounting in fact the requirement for the body to be healed at the same time, then someone could raise the recently dead, were such a thing possible.

But before Sesshoumaru was no imp, but an ominous figure with a dagger between his teeth, drawing into his mouth what Sesshoumaru presumed to be the soul of the boy, but also something orange and ominous from the mark on the boy's stomach.

Sesshoumaru recognised his misconception immediately, the boy was not possessed, as was common for low class Youkai to do to use a human as a means to an end, but the boy was a container for what seemed to be a great Youkai, possibly greater than he himself, or possibly their father.

Sesshoumaru decided that the humans here must have performed such an act, as he could conceive of no reason for a Youkai to seal such power into a human. He was also intrigued, that such an ability existed was entirely unexpected, if the humans of his own lands were capable of such acts it would mean they were of much greater threat than he originally gave them credit. All at once his dilemma regarding Inuyasha was thrown off balance, if Inuyasha's human side had such potential then that would explain much, though the humans of their lands had no such abilities, and as such these events may be completely unrelated.

Sesshoumaru also deduced that such a great demon would also not credit humans with such abilities, and as such was caught off guard. He decided that he would not allow such at technique to be performed upon himself, he would not be brought so low.

Sesshoumaru decided that he had mused enough on such currently immaterial questions and that he should find out what it is Tenseiga wanted, or had reacted to.

Looking forward now, from the boy to the eyes of the spectre above him he concluded that this being was indeed far more important than any imps he may encounter above a fallen mortal, perhaps even the god of death himself, if not a direct subordinate. However Tenseiga seemed completely un-fazed, intent upon the spectre. Sesshoumaru raised the sword towards its figure and the flow of energies from the small boy's body immediately stopped. Tenseiga pulsed and the spectre's eyes snapped open and locked directly upon the sword Sesshoumaru held towards it. After a few moments it turned its gaze from the sword to Sesshoumaru, though Sesshoumaru could easily tell its attention lay still upon Tenseiga.

It seemed to be waiting for something from Sesshoumaru, so he decided to act. "What is this boy?"

The spectre seemed as if it would not react for a long moment but then a strange sound came out and Sesshoumaru found images appearing within his mind, as if the spectre were incapable of speech on the same level as Sesshoumaru was accustomed to.

The images depicted a great beast, roughly the same size as himself when transformed but radiating such massive power. The beast had nine tails and looked like a fox with rabbits ears. He saw a frog and a man face it and he saw the spectre before him appear within the imagery behind the man, force its arm through the man and into the beast, and bring the beast's soul from its body into what he now recognised as the child that lay before him. He also noted that the beast's body seemed to turn to ash rather than crumple as any Youkai he had encountered would, as if it were made of Ash or Fire itself.

Sesshoumaru processed the information for a moment before bringing his attention back to the situation at hand. "What manner of Youkai is this?" Once again an eerie sound emitted from the spectre and Sesshoumaru found himself with a mathematical equation within his mind. A representation he assumed for the number nine, and a tail, similar to those the beast possessed. Sesshoumaru again questioned. "Nine tails?" To which the spectre only nodded.

Sesshoumaru considered his options. The boy's life was evidently forfeit and in the process the soul of this Nine Tailed beast had also been taken. But Sesshoumaru himself was in a position of control over the spectre, much as his father had once described, though he doubted the benefits of outright killing the spectre, especially as it seemed to be absorbing rather than channelling the souls. Instead Sesshoumaru decided he would attempt to salvage the situation to his own benefit. He was still curious as to the nature of his brother and he decided he may be able to use this boy to discover the truth.

Obviously such a discovery would likely take many years, however Sesshoumaru was doubting more and more that he was merely in just another part of his own world, for there had never been such creatures as this Nine Tails, and such a creature is not something that is easily missed, nor are humans capable of calling such spectres and defeating these creatures, even if it were a suicide technique.

Sesshoumaru decided that it would be quite likely that he would have time to observe the child as he went about discovering how he may go about returning to his lands, he decided not to plan beyond his return until his experiment progressed.

Once again turning his attention to the spectre in front of him, he decided that his usual lordly manner would be appropriate if he were to make this spectre do as he said.

"That boy is of interest to this Sesshoumaru. You may have the beast, but leave the boy, and some of the beasts' power. He will become a Hanyou, and I will observe how he grows." The spectre didn't move for some time, but when Sesshoumaru moved Tenseiga further towards the spectre, it immediately nodded. Sesshoumaru watched in morbid fascination as the energy, which was now identified as the soul of the boy was basically regurgitated by it and then, after the fox's soul had been withdrawn, it regurgitated a stream of wispy red energy, similar in proportion to the boy's own soul, into his entire body. The spectre then looked back at Sesshoumaru and Sesshoumaru, assuming that his request had been fulfilled re-sheathed Tenseiga, which he absently noted was no longer pulsing with energy, seemingly content.

Sesshoumaru nodded to the spectre as it faded from view and watched in morbid fascination as the child regained consciousness after having been dead for what is likely to have been hours.

---)(---

Naruto's head felt like pain, his back, felt like pain, in fact he was sure this was the worst way to wake up ever, though he would not likely form that conclusion until he was done with the actual process. Blearily opening his eyes he spied what could be dirt, but it was too dark to tell. Blindly fumbling around with his right arm he found a Kunai lodged into the lower part of his back, though too far to the left for him to reach, merely brush against. Carefully propping himself up with his right arm, so he could free his left arm, which had severe pins and needles, Naruto then began to feel around for the Kunai.

Of course, once Naruto had a good hold on the Kunai, he found that it was actually lodged rather deep into his flesh, and that even the tiny movements caused by his gingerly grasping the handle had caused immense pain.

---)(---

Sesshoumaru watched the child, obviously in pain, writhe around until it discovered the small blade within its back, then seemingly freeze, he grew bored of waiting. Surely the child would need better survival instincts or reactions or whatever humans had, than this if it were to survive in a combat situation. It had already died once. As such Sesshoumaru decided now would be a good time to learn. If next time there was a marked improvement, his experiment would be showing results. Of course, for a comparable next time the child would have to die, or come close, so it might be best to make assumptions based on later information, which came at a less hazardous expense. Regardless, Sesshoumaru spoke up. "Child, swiftly remove the blade and retain it as a possible means of defence, raise yourself to a crouch."

Naruto heard some strange, rather silky voice from somewhere above his head, basically command him into a defensive position, though the swift removal of what would then become his weapon, was what he was still pausing at. He faintly recognised the sound of footsteps as what was presumably the male who had talked to him moved around to where his feet were around the bush. Then stop, though his world was currently concentrated upon the pain in his back, so footsteps were of little importance right now.

Sesshoumaru was becoming irritated, surely the child would not expect him to remove the blade, even if he were to, he was not planning on remaining for the duration of the boy's growth, merely to check upon him at intervals to collect results upon the boys growth. As such he merely told the boy more forcefully to do as he was told. "_Now_ boy."

Naruto, rather shocked by the feral quality to the previously silky voice jerked, half heartedly thinking about actually removing the kunai in his back, but mostly just jumping in fright, with the grip of the kunai firmly in his hand, being taken as his arm stiffened. Quickly realising what he had done, mostly due to the pain involved, Naruto jumped up, though not fully as his back muscles protested harshly to the movement, he then brought the kunai around in front of him trying to find the voice.

From behind the boy Sesshoumaru observed his actions. Whilst the hesitation was understandable from such a young boy, a human no less, who were fragile and highly susceptible to pain, when he did act he did so admirably. Obviously the boys' position was compromised by the damage to the muscles in his back and most probably some damage to a kidney, there was still what resembled a crouch, and a blade for defence. Deciding that was acceptable for now Sesshoumaru commented. "Well enough, in future hesitation is not acceptable, hesitation leads to death human. Your posture also needs great refinement however due to your wounds, this may be overlooked."

Naruto spun in place, putting stress on his wound, though he still made it far enough around to see Sesshoumaru standing, regarding him with what seemed like little interest at all, as he promptly fell on his ass.

Sesshoumaru observed the wound on the boy did not leak blood when stretched. Based on comparison with similar wounds he had received in the past, that meant that the boys' regenerative powers were currently working much faster than his own did, even now. That was a rather shocking development, however it was of little consequence, regeneration was only good after battles, if you were wounded in battle, it would still hinder you. And as such Sesshoumaru put the information away for use when analysing the boy later.

Naruto looked at the man before him, he recognised him as the stranger who he had tried to help, but who had rejected him. But the stranger was here now, maybe the stranger was sorry, and he came and saved him from the bad Ninjas, even if the stranger was kind of weird, he still looked totally awesome. Especially when Naruto remembered the way his eyes went red, disregarding the fear involved, that was _cool_.

"Hey, Mister, did you save me?"

Sesshoumaru thought about his response, he decided he was generally above lying, but he was also not this boy's nanny, he should be able to figure such things out on his own, the events which had transpired here had left a particularly strong and detailed account in the scents left behind. As Hanyou of a canine variety, his sense of smell should be capable of sensing such things. As such Sesshoumaru decided to ignore the obvious plea for information and merely respond as required. "I am Sesshoumaru, Lord of the Western Lands of Japan. No, I did not save you. You died."

Naruto was at first struck, no wonder this guy looked so cool, he came from some strange sounding place and was _Lord_ of it. But then the cool man said that he had died. But that didn't make sense, he was still alive. "B... But I'm not dead." Though not phrased as a question, it obviously was one.

"Indeed." Sesshoumaru quirked his eyebrow. Though seeing as the child expected more information, Sesshoumaru decided to inform him of his situation, best to get it out of the way now rather than later. "Do you know of the fox which has resided within you?"

The child seemed confused, as obviously that had nothing to do with his question, though he seemed compliant and shook his head. "What do you mean fox?"

Sesshoumaru again quirked his eyebrow, it seemed that the humans had neglected to inform their sacrifice of his role in their salvation from the beast. Another trait which Sesshoumaru generally detested about humans was their total lack of honour. "Indeed. A great beast with nine tails was sealed within you when you were a baby, so as to protect your village." The child seemed shocked, so Sesshoumaru pressed on, hoping to permanently forestall any emotional outburst. "It seems that this same village's 'Ninja' are deeply ungrateful and killed you. I have resurrected you and merged some of the fox's power with your own, in return for your new chance at life you will grow strong, do you understand?"

Naruto just sat there, he died, he was killed by the ninja he so respected, sure some of them were mean, but he thought that when he became a ninja too they would respect him. But they killed him, they killed him for taking some bandages. Unconsciously tears began to stream from Naruto's eyes. What was he going to do now? They killed him, they would probably never respect him. And the strange man had brought him back, though now he thought about that man, he noticed he didn't smell very human, but then, not having smelt 'human' very often, as his sense of smell isn't generally that acute, he brushed it off. "W… why did you help me?" Naruto looked at the strange man, Seshmaru was it? And hoped that it was because he cared or for a similarly good reason.

Sesshoumaru noticed the boy was in emotional turmoil, obviously he didn't care very much, but at the same time, the boy would likely not grow very strong if he had an emotional break down. Generally encouragement would be required, but Sesshoumaru was not prone to such things. Instead he tried to find the closest part of this entire situation to encouragement that he could find. "You remind me of my brother."

Naruto was shocked by that comment, he had never had any brothers or sisters, and especially no parents, all the parents around seemed to truly dislike him. So that singular comment endeared him to Seshmaru much more than almost anything else he may have said.

Sesshoumaru noticed the gleam within Naruto's eyes and smelt the fear and depression evaporate form his body and quietly congratulated himself, for an amateur at such things, for he was not so arrogant that he could not admit that he was an amateur, he was doing very well.

Naruto began to look more and more hopeful and Sesshoumaru easily smelt the hope coming from the boy, something which he found to be foreboding. Naruto wasn't quite sure how to phrase this but he persevered. "Seshmaru… uh... Lord Sesshmaru… Could I… We… I… be your brother too?"

Sesshoumaru was not pleased that the boy had not learnt his name when he was the one responsible for bringing him back to life. "Lord Sesshoumaru. And no."

Naruto looked horribly downcast at that, and the depression came back full force. So Sesshoumaru had to do some damage control. "Boy, family is a fact of life. My brother is also the one who severed my arm. Family is not a necessity, and _do not_ get depressed again." Sesshoumaru was aware that ordering someone not to be depressed was quite obviously futile but it was habit and you never know, worth a try.

Naruto tried again, blind optimism fuelling his path. "S… Lord Sesshoumaru, um, then can we be friends?" Sesshoumaru had been about to order the boy to take them to his village, and almost felt like this was an interruption, but it really wasn't, and so forced his irritation down. "No. You will be my ward, I have much to do in this land, your tasks lie within your home village. As your first task you will take me there." Sesshoumaru turned away from Naruto towards where he assumed the village to be situated, based upon the scents from the area. Naruto quickly got up and headed off in that direction, seemingly content with his role. Perhaps he had been presumptuous to assume the boy would understand the meaning of a ward, though it mattered little.

Naruto wasn't quite sure whether to be happy or sad, he had been denied friendship, but they had a relationship, of sorts. Naruto was now Sesshoumaru's ward, whatever that meant. But he had saved Naruto's life, and he said he reminded him of his brother, which caused him to save his life, so that's like caring, sort of. But he said his brother did that to his arm, but he didn't seem too mad about it, but he might be mad. Naruto decided that they were now… something, and if he was really good and nice then maybe they could be friends too. "This way Lord Sesshoumaru." And with that Naruto ran off.

Sesshoumaru did not deign to follow at anything but a leisurely pace, since the boy was leading the way there was therefore a trail for him to follow, and as such there was no need for him to hurry anyway.

---)(---

Not long later, though much longer than Naruto was happy with or had expected, they arrived at the village gates.

Naruto had tried to get Sesshoumaru to go faster but Sesshoumaru had simply ignored him and followed the trail from where Naruto had run most of the way not noticing Sesshoumaru was not there. By the time he reached the end of the trail Sesshoumaru could identify the village by the smell and the noises emanating from it and as such was in no need of a guide. In fact by the time they had reached the village gates it was Sesshoumaru not Naruto who was leading the way.

When they reached the village Sesshoumaru and Naruto were stopped by two Chuunin guards who asked them for their papers. Sesshoumaru ignored them and turned to Naruto. "What name does the village leader go by here?"

Naruto put his finger to his lips and thought for a moment before replying. "Urm, do you mean the Hokage? He's the top Ninja."

Sesshoumaru nodded and turned from Naruto to the Chuunins. "This Sesshoumaru will see your 'Hokage'."

The Chuunin looked at each other, one gestured towards the other and the gestured Chuunin turned to Sesshoumaru first and responded. "Sir, we need to see your papers before you can enter the village, then you need to make an appointment with the Hokage at the reception in the Hokage tower."

Sesshoumaru stared intently at the Chuunin, unnerving the man greatly. After a pause wherein Sesshoumaru deemed he had induced enough fear into the human, he responded. "You will either bring your Hokage here, take me to him, or you shall die."

The Chuunin paled considerably and behind his back made a hand sign which signalled to the guards on the wall that he wanted some ANBU there, NOW. Naruto's reaction was to walk up in front of Sesshoumaru and stomp. Sesshoumaru didn't bother to look towards Naruto, happy with intimidating the human before him. "Oy, Sesshoumaru-" Sesshoumaru slapped Naruto on the head without even looking. "Uh… Lord Sesshoumaru, you can't just go threatening people like that."

Sesshoumaru turned to Naruto and almost looked incredulous, if not for the fact that Sesshoumaru is never incredulous. Ever. "Boy, mere hours ago you were murdered in cold blood by these Ninja, they are betraying ungrateful humans. Such lowly creatures should not be reasoned with. Violence is the best option." Sesshoumaru wasn't sure whether to be happy or sad at the mildly horrified expression which crept upon Naruto's face. Either way he knew that the lesson had been taught. Turning back to the Chuunin Sesshoumaru was about to ask for his answer or some action regarding Sesshoumaru's threat when some more humans with strange porcelain masks and black clothing appeared surrounding them.

Immediately upon the arrival of the ANBU Naruto cowered and tried to hide behind Sesshoumaru, though since they were surrounded, that was hard. The Chuunin which Sesshoumaru had threatened, and who had previously been strongly fearful of Sesshoumaru was now confident in his situation.

Sesshoumaru sniffed the air, and immediately turned his head sharply to his right. Looking directly into the eyes of one of the ANBU. Before the ANBU in front of him could begin speaking Sesshoumaru had begun to address the one in the rabbit mask. "Human with a rabbit mask, earlier today you committed murder of a child of your own species, who you sacrificed to save yourselves from a beast of great power. You are ungrateful and your presence disgusts me." Sesshoumaru turned forward, though remained addressing the rabbit masked ANBU. "You will leave and return with your Hokage or this Sesshoumaru will kill you."

As soon as Sesshoumaru had said those words each ANBU withdrew a standard issue Ninja-to, a straight edged blade, shorter than a standard Katana with which Sesshoumaru was familiar. However before they could caution Sesshoumaru or make any threatening or aggressive advances, Sesshoumaru's hand had shot out and curled slightly from his body, protruding from the end of his index and middle finger was a luminous green strand of energy which passed through each of the Ninja's hands which was holding the Ninja-to except for the rabbit masked ANBU who was impaled through the heart.

Immediately after the strand had seemingly appeared in a circle around Sesshoumaru, having impaled four ANBU, it disappeared and each ANBU dropped their blade to the floor, though the rabbit masked ANBU fell to the floor with her blade.

Naruto and the Chuunin, and to a lesser extent the three remaining ANBU were stunned, the speed and deadly efficiency with which that attack had been executed was mind boggling, he was clearly beyond their level.

Sesshoumaru regarded the ANBU before him for a moment before addressing him. "Ninja of the duck mask, you will leave and return with your Hokage or this Sesshoumaru will kill you." This time, the Ninja looked up into the eyes of Sesshoumaru and quickly disappeared in a plume of smoke, no doubt was left in any of their minds on whether or not Sesshoumaru would or could follow through with his threat.

Sesshoumaru looked down at the rabbit masked ANBU once more, and felt a small pulse of energy from Tenseiga. Sesshoumaru felt that the sword was happy with his actions, though it puzzled Sesshoumaru how a sword incapable of cutting any living thing would be happy that he had just killed someone, though it might be because the one in question had killed the boy, the boy which Tenseiga seemed to favour. Perhaps it was the moral injustice involved, that they had killed what was apparently their saviour, but it mattered not. Sesshoumaru turned and looked down to his left and regarded Naruto, who was staring intently at the rabbit masked ANBU. He decided it was time for another lesson, though he would not be making a habit of this.

"Boy." Naruto turned and looked up at Sesshoumaru, his eyes brimming with tears. "This woman not only murdered you but toyed with you, tortured you before, did she not?" Naruto just looked at the woman, and at Sesshoumaru. Seemingly confused. "Boy, sniff the air, do you recognise the scent of that woman?" Naruto sniffed, more due to his emotional state than to get some air, so he sniffed again properly a moment later and looked up at Sesshoumaru.

"It… she smells like where you… where I…" Naruto trailed off, not sure what to say, and too scared to say it, as if verbalising it would make it more real.

Sesshoumaru realised the boy would not recognise the woman's scent from before he died, as he didn't possess any Youkai abilities at that time. But he remembered the scent of the clearing, that meant he did indeed have a nose of similar abilities at least to Inuyasha, it had yet to be seen if it compared to Sesshoumaru's nose. "Her scent was there because that is where she participated in your murder." Sesshoumaru left it at that. Which was handy as a moment later an old man appeared in a puff of smoke, flanked by four new masked Ninja, the duck masked Ninja perhaps being treated for his wound elsewhere. Sesshoumaru looked quickly at Naruto, realising he did not actually know the boys name. Now would be a good time to assert superiority over the situation, so that the coming events would play out more smoothly. So Sesshoumaru ignored when the man demanded why he had attacked his Ninja and instead spoke to Naruto. "Boy." Naruto turned his eyes from the rabbit masked Ninja on the floor to Sesshoumaru's own. "What is your name?"

Naruto actually had to think for a moment, even though he definitely knew his name, and was in fact prone to shouting it out and writing it places. "N... Uzumaki Naruto."

Sesshoumaru turned from Naruto to the old man, since he was dressed in more regal robes, Sesshoumaru decided he must be the elder of the village, he certainly looked the part. "Elder of this village, your Ninja earlier today murdered Uzumaki Naruto." At this point the fury in the man's gaze fell off leaving his mouth hanging open in astonishment. "This Sesshoumaru revived Naruto and made sure that the Fox demon your village sealed within him died."

The Hokage, Sarutobi immediately reacted. "The Kyuubi is Dea-" However he was not able to finish.

Sesshoumaru continued seemingly indifferent to what the Hokage was saying. "Your Ninja, including the rabbit." Sesshoumaru briefly glanced to the rabbit masked ANBU. "Have thrown away the life of Uzumaki Naruto. This Sesshoumaru finds you to be ungrateful and pathetic."

Again the Hokage interrupted. "Wait, I would never-" But was again ignored.

"Your Ninja act under your command, they are your responsibility. This Sesshoumaru is not interested in your excuses." Sesshoumaru paused to regard the Ninja surrounding him, even though theoretically they had the tactical advantage, all of them smelt of fear. "Your gate Ninja called your masked Ninja when I demanded your presence. You are now present." At this point Sesshoumaru looked to Naruto, who looked up, somehow sensing the eyes upon him. "You see boy." Sesshoumaru turned back to the Hokage, done with that lesson now. "I have much to do during my time in your lands, as such you and your village will look after my Ward in my absence. Failure by you or your subordinates will mean your death, village Elder."

Sarutobi, the Sandaime Hokage was utterly out of his depth. Such an event was entirely un-precedented and he was getting on in years, even though he remained in good physical and mental health. After having been told that the village pariah, a boy who he personally regarded as family in kind with his own grandson Konohamaru, had been murdered by one of his ANBU and unknown other Ninja, that was a shock. That this, regal looking man had been able to neutralise four ANBU, including killing one of them as the murderer of Naruto, he was virtually speechless as it was. But after having been ignored pointedly twice in a row, he succumbed to being actually speechless. So speechless in fact that after the stranger had finished talking, it was not he but Naruto who spoke up first, after a rather large pause as well.

"Se… Lord Sesshoumaru?" Sesshoumaru looked down at Naruto. "You're… Leaving me here?"

Sesshoumaru regarded Naruto for a moment. Choosing his words carefully, aware of the fact that the wrong thing said may destroy the boy's motivation, which would make this entire series of events useless, however if he were to say just the right thing, the boy may be spurned to work hard, potentially to show Sesshoumaru the answer to his dilemma. "Naruto, as my Ward you are under my command." Sesshoumaru paused, entirely for dramatic effect. "Your task, as my ward is to grow strong." Sesshoumaru looked off into space, giving the effect, or so he hoped, that what he was about to say was to the world, and that those listening were the privileged few who were able to be there to hear it too. "Youkai do not grow stronger, they are merely able to refine their strength or acquire a source of power." Sesshoumaru turned back to Naruto. "But you may be different. You are now a Hanyou, one half Youkai and one half Human. It is your task as my Ward to grow strong. To learn to harness your Youki and fight as a Youkai, to use your instincts and your senses. But to grow, to use your human ability to grow to become stronger in your Demonic powers."

At the point when Sesshoumaru said the word Demon, everyone around stiffened. That meant that this rather stunning man before them was also a Demon, and that he had taken Naruto under his wing, and that he would retaliate in Naruto's defence should they harm him. Not only that, but the boy was now half _demon_. And would be developing his _demonic powers_. Two words ran through the minds of those present. "Oh _fuck_."

Sesshoumaru, his speech finished, and smelling the hostility in the air decided to make firm his threat upon the village. "Ninja of this village, the demon you imprisoned within the boy is dead, I personally saw to its demise. Any hostility or disrespect of _any kind-_" Sesshoumaru punctuated himself by a severely intimidating reddening of his eyes. "-will be punished in the Death of your Military leader.

Immediately every ANBU who had appeared with the Hokage, and even the injured ones brandished their identical Ninja-to at Sesshoumaru. Sesshoumaru in response raised his arm, his forearm crossing his body and his index and middle finger emitting an eerie and wholly threatening green aura.

Sarutobi immediately went into action, having not yet absorbed everything that was happening, but clearly feeling the Killing intent in the aura's of those present, not to mention the almost sickening feel of the strange energy being emitted by the green light on the stranger's fingers. "Stand down." Each ANBU looked at their leader, unsure if they should truly stand down, or if he was being coerced somehow into saying that. Sarutobi insisted however. "_Stand down_ it is clear this Sesshoumaru is capable of defeating us all." The ANBU reluctantly stood down, putting their weaponry away. Sarutobi turned towards Sesshoumaru. "I assume that as long as we follow your wishes, you will do us no harm?"

Sesshoumaru was about to say yes, however a rather abrupt pulse of energy from Tenseiga gave him pause, evidently Tenseiga knew Sesshoumaru to be a man of his word, and did not want him to give his word on that. Thinking on it momentarily, Sesshoumaru surmised that Tenseiga wanted him to bring justice to Naruto's remaining attackers. Returning his attention to the Elder, though to all who may have been looking, it never left. "I will give you my word on that except." Here he paused, again entirely for dramatic effect. "I will see my Ward's murderer's dead, by my or his hand. Beyond that, I will ask nothing unreasonable from you." Of course within his own mind Sesshoumaru was willing to admit that his interest in this situation was growing exponentially, and it was likely he would force them to acquiesce to his every whim on all details pertaining to Naruto, so that he may be sure that the boy's chances were as high as possible to grow strong.

Sarutobi would most likely have had the Ninja involved killed at some point regardless, so that was not a big problem. In fact this entire situation seemed rather beneficial, Naruto is alive, the Kyuubi is dead. But Naruto is half _demon_. Word of that could not, _not_ get out. His own life would be on the line for every disrespectful thing the villagers might say about him. That was a point, Sesshoumaru had said their _military leader_, not Hokage, or himself. "Lord Sesshoumaru?" Sesshoumaru's eyes focused intently upon Sarutobi. "You said the life of our Military leader would be forfeit, might you explain?"

Sesshoumaru raised and eyebrow briefly, surely they were not so dense as to know what a military leader was? "Yours is a village run by the military leader?" Sarutobi nodded. "Then it is that person's responsibility to keep your Ninja and civilian populace in line. Failure to do so means incompetence. I shall kill you or your current military leader should you be proven incompetent, that a more competent replacement take up the responsibility."

Sarutobi nodded. In essence he was responsible for the actions of his Ninja, and to a lesser extent he was responsible for keeping the civilian populace in line, this was just taking it to the extreme though. "Might I ask what you consider failure?"

Sesshoumaru realised the man was trying to make this a deal, rather than a threat. Though he also wanted to know the criteria for his execution, which is fair. "My Ward shall not be disrespected verbally or physically. You and your village will see that he has ample opportunity to grow stronger." Sarutobi nodded and looked down, stroking his beard in thought. "Elder." Sarutobi looked back up. "This is not a deal, you have failed the boy once when his life was your possession, now it is mine. Failure will not be tolerated."

Sarutobi protested Sesshoumaru's statement. "Now wait a minute, Naruto was never a _possession_ he-"

Sesshoumaru reacted to that, violently. His eyes flashed bright red and his aura flared visibly, causing his robes to billow and his pelt to ruffle strongly. "_Silence_ human. You cannot sacrifice that which is not yours. To save your own lives you stole this boy's life and sacrificed it. I will not tolerate your delusions." Sesshoumaru looked around, and down at Naruto, who was now looking both afraid, and a bit depressed. Sesshoumaru decided it would be best to keep the boy's mind on a different track. "Elder, you will take us to your office so that we may discuss this in private, in one moment." Sarutobi nodded, and signalled his ANBU to crowd around him. Sesshoumaru ignored their movements and turned to Naruto. "Naruto, once we are within the Elder's office, I will teach you probably the most important lesson for your survival." Naruto perked up, he was going to be taught something. "However beyond that I am leaving your growth in your own hands.-" Sesshoumaru thought of something, and quietly congratulated himself on his ability to be manipulative, even though what he was about to say was the truth. "-Or have I misplaced my _faith_ in your ability to grow strong?" Sesshoumaru smirked on the inside when Naruto's eyes widened.

Naruto frantically shook his head. "No! NO! I can do it! I can-" Sesshoumaru placed his hand in front of Naruto's face momentarily to quieten him. And turned away, though still speaking towards Naruto.

"As my Ward, you must measure your words and maintain your composure at all times." Turning his head slightly to regard Naruto. "I can trust you to accomplish this?" Naruto thought for a moment, truly the words Sesshoumaru spoke were only barely within his vocabulary, but he guessed upon their meaning that he shouldn't panic as he had.

Thoughtfully Naruto looked Sesshoumaru in the eyes and responded. "Yes, Lord Sesshoumaru."

Sesshoumaru turned away fully from Naruto, but spoke to him. "Very good." Naruto smiled brightly, he knew that was probably the best compliment he would get out of Sesshoumaru, having only just met him, he was obviously not the compliment type. Hell, watching him talk so much, it seemed out of place.

Whilst Sesshoumaru was addressing Naruto, Sarutobi was informing the ANBU that there would be a meeting of all Jounin and Chuunin and ANBU in the main meeting theatre of the Hokage tower. All those in attendance were to wait until the Hokage arrived in an unspecified amount of time. He also warned the ANBU that if word got out about anything they had learned here, they would all be charged with treason, for they would be endangering the Hokage's life. Which is _actually_ treason. The ANBU left to assemble the meeting just scant moments before Sesshoumaru turned towards him.

Sarutobi adopted his business face, the one he generally only needed when dealing with the Konoha council, for they were power hungry and cared little for anyone but themselves, or in some cases, their clan as well. Sarutobi was about to address Sesshoumaru, to invite him to his office within the Hokage tower but Sesshoumaru beat him to it.

"Village Elder." He paused a moment for recognition, and possibly to keep up the suspense. "Your village is large, it has a Council does it not?" Sarutobi nodded, wondering what relevance that had. "You will make certain your council is present at your arranged meeting." Sarutobi was mildly surprised, no normal human could have possibly heard his commands, though it had already been revealed that Sesshoumaru was not even human at all. Merely nodding his Acquiescence.

As Sesshoumaru was apparently done for the time being, Sarutobi went ahead and invited him to his office. "Lord Sesshoumaru, would you like to accompany me to my office where we can speak more privately?" Sesshoumaru glanced down towards Naruto. "Ah and Naruto would you mind coming along also?" Naruto looked up at the Hokage, for he had been staring at the rabbit masked ANBU in mild shock for the past few moments.

"Uh, sure Oji…" Naruto looked up at Sesshoumaru, who was still looking forwards. "I would like that. Lord Hokage." Sarutobi raised his eyebrow at the never-before-seen respect from Naruto, but decided now was most definitely not the time for such matters.

Sarutobi half turned and gestured with one hand for them to follow him into the village. "If you would, please follow me." He strode forward at a reasonable pace, confident that Sesshoumaru and Naruto were just behind him.

Along the way Sarutobi spied a patrolling Chuunin and signalled him over. The Chuunin landed in front of Sarutobi, bowed and proceeded to match his pace. Sarutobi addressed him quietly but urgently. "Masaki, I have an Urgent task for you and any Ninja you come across. Every Council member must be in the Hokage Tower main meeting theatre within twenty minutes. Anyone who is not present without good reason will face charges of treason. Understood?" Now wide eyed and a little panicked, the Chuunin, Masaki, nodded fervently, and quickly leapt off to accomplish her task. Sarutobi kept on at the same pace, having not broken stride once.

---)(---

Once they were within the Hokage's office and seated appropriately, Sarutobi began the discussion. "Lord Sesshoumaru, would you like to discuss the specifics of what you wish from us?" Sarutobi was trying to be as broad as possible.

Sesshoumaru thought for a moment before responding. "Explain to me your methods for training your warriors, Ninja."

Sarutobi wasn't expecting that, more like some more demands, though it made sense to demand things once you properly understood what you were asking. Breaking straight into the matter Sarutobi began. "Potential Ninja are enrolled into one of three Konoha Ninja Academies, though admittedly nearly all successful candidates come from one Academy, favoured by the clans of Konoha. At age twelve, having attended the Academy and learning the three basic techniques of Ninja, as well as basic hand-to-hand techniques and missile weaponry, they are tested on their abilities. Those who pass are formed into three person Cells under a Jounin instructor. A Jounin is one of our top ranked Shinobi. They will perform D rank missions within the village and be tutored by their Sensei until such time as their Sensei thinks they can handle C rank missions, possibly involving bandits and the like." Sarutobi paused, he was tempted to light his pipe, but having overheard Sesshoumaru's olfactory abilities, thought better of it and instead just took some time to compose his words. "Every six months a joint exam is held within one of our allied nations, this exam serves a dual purpose. It is a test to see which of our Ninja possess the greatest leadership qualities, and it is also a substitution for war between our villages. On the whole villages will enter their strongest Ninja, so that in the final stages when potential clients are watching, those ninja may impress the potential clients and boost their own villages economy. Beyond that anyone who reaches Chuunin will be put in charge of missions consisting of other Genin, Genin who show great fighting ability may be conscripted into the ANBU to serve as the Elite fighters of our village for combat heavy missions and patrols. Those who reach the top may be promoted to Jounin and take on the responsibility of the hardest missions, and training the future Ninjas of our village."

Sesshoumaru decided that this system was very complex, and his limited experience and knowledge with training in general meant that he did not know whether or not this system worked or not. "How does your village rank in terms of strength against all others?"

Sarutobi was also not expecting that question, and actually couldn't find the reason behind it, though he didn't put too much effort into figuring that out, as he was sure he would find out soon. "Currently, and for a long time now our Village has been viewed as the strongest of the five great Elemental villages."

Sesshoumaru did not respond for a moment, deciding whether or not that was good enough proof of their ability to train their warriors, but conceded that they had produced at least one human capable of reducing a great Youkai to little more than Youki bound by what seemed to be Ink. "Very well, Naruto shall participate in your training programme. However I shall be making slight changes."

Naruto looked at Sesshoumaru, so far he had been in a bit of a daze, and had also been trying to act proper. So far his understanding was that if he had good posture and didn't speak much, he was acting quite proper. His understanding was surprisingly accurate, if lacking many fine details. But he decided to speak in reaction to Sesshoumaru's latest comment. "Lord Sesshoumaru?" Sesshoumaru turned his head to face Naruto. "Isn't that cheating?"

Sesshoumaru was mildly impressed, cheating was obviously dishonourable, and Naruto had already seemingly picked up that honour was important. "No, Naruto. You are not training to be a Ninja, you are training to become strong. There is no need for Ninja techniques, for you have your instincts and your honour. You will participate with your team because they too will be growing stronger. Missions against Bandits and other Ninja will give you experience and sharpen your senses. Do you understand?" Naruto nodded. Seemingly placated.

Sesshoumaru turned to Sarutobi, apparently ready to lay down his modifications. "Naruto will not be participating in the remainder of his time at the Academy, you will find one of your Ninja who has an excellent ability to sense energy, and have them train Naruto in drawing out his Youki." Sarutobi nodded, that seemed straight forward enough, if Sesshoumaru wanted Naruto to develop demonic abilities, yet he has only just become Demonic, someone sensitive to his Demonic energies would be useful in harnessing his energy. "I will select from the available candidates two team mates, they will not be failed their graduation." Sarutobi nodded again, though this was all highly favouritist, when you consider that Sesshoumaru was basically holding the Hokage to ransom, he was being quite reasonable, considering the outrageous things it is possible he may ask for. "Their team will not be sent on any missions which will not involve combat. Instead combat simulations, etc. will be performed." Sarutobi nodded again, having gotten out a pen and started writing down notes, he _was_ getting older, and it would be no good to forget some of this. "They will be entered into this exam as soon as it is likely to not be fatal. Beyond that, I will trust you to put Naruto into combat intensive situations." Sarutobi nodded. Writing all this down.

Having finished writing everything down, and noticing Sesshoumaru was apparently done for now, Sarutobi put his pen down and stood up. "Well then, Shall we go review the next graduating class? Afterwards, all the potential Jounin Sensei will be at the meeting." Sesshoumaru stood, Naruto following suit, and nodded his assent, seemingly done with words for the time being.

---)(---

Sesshoumaru was currently perusing through the members of Naruto's academy class. It was wholly apparent how much difference was made by the candidates having come from a Ninja family, rather than not. The teaching staff in each Academy seemed adequate, however the students in the Academy Naruto currently attended were clearly superior, Sesshoumaru had long ago discarded the other potentials. He was tempted to look in the year below, or even the year above, but decided against it. Comparing Naruto's progress to humans of his own age would be beneficial, for Youkai gained full use of their strength during puberty, though their ability to use their strength was often lacking considerably. Comparing how Naruto, a Hanyou, developed against his fully Human team mates would give Sesshoumaru a full range of perspective, and thus a greater understanding with which to make his final conclusions. Sesshoumaru now had to choose team mates for Naruto which would complement him. He currently only had one working theory which he was going off.

During his fight with Inuyasha, the crucial turning point in the fight came at the point when Inuyasha decided he would protect Kagome from Sesshoumaru, not only had Tessaiga pulsed with power at that declaration but Inuyasha himself seemed to be fuelled by such a drive. Sesshoumaru was un-sure if it was a drive to protect someone or something, a drive to prove himself to someone that mattered, or a drive in general as long as it was sufficient which would cause such a boost, but he was sure it was one of those. Sesshoumaru decided that if he were to put a female onto Naruto's team, one which was sufficiently pretty and would potentially need protecting, but also would potentially call for Naruto to prove himself to her, then he could produce such a drive. Sesshoumaru had decided immediately that the Hyuuga girl would not be appropriate, their clan was hand-to-hand intensive, regardless of her actual combat ability, it would be hard for Naruto to save her if she were so close to the enemy at the point that she needed saving. As such her best bet would be the Yamanaka Girl, whose family techniques were long-ranged. However the Haruno girl was capable in Genjutsu (Sesshoumaru had learned that meant Ninja Illusions) which were likely long-range also. And also Fox Youkai were infamous for their ability with illusions. However the reports said nothing about their relationship with Naruto, as such no decision could be made yet.

From what Sesshoumaru could sense about Naruto's abilities, his would likely manifest into an affinity for illusion, likely camouflage or transformation illusions, much like Inuyasha's fox, and short-mid range combat abilities. Sesshoumaru had a theory that the Spectre had in fact made it so that Naruto would develop abilities highly similar to his own, though he doubted that Naruto would develop any poison abilities. This was also convenient as it would aid him in a direct comparison between himself and Naruto. This meant that he would need a long-range defensive fighter for his third member, as Naruto would be able to handle the short-mid range and whichever girl he chose would need to be protected, lest Naruto's drive, whichever it may be, be killed along with her. Currently he was undecided between the Nara boy, whose shadow techniques were intriguing or the Aburame boy, whose bug allies would work well with illusion. However Sesshoumaru decided eventually he was not necessarily interested in Naruto's illusionary abilities, it was his strength, the strength of his Youki that Sesshoumaru was most interested in, for that was Inuyasha's forte.

Looking up from his musing at Sarutobi, ignoring Naruto, who was now happily snoozing on a chair, drool hanging from his mouth. "I will meet the Yamanaka and Haruno girls, the Nara boy will be their other team mate." Sesshoumaru unceremoniously closed and threw the folder onto the desk, however Sarutobi noted that it landed perfectly placed with the other items of the desk. Sarutobi was slightly unnerved at the probably unconscious display of dexterity. He stood and motioned towards the door.

"Ah, shall we leave Naruto here?" Sarutobi gestured towards Naruto, who looked decidedly uncomfortable, sprawled haphazardly upon the chair in the Academy records room.

Sesshoumaru looked towards Naruto. After a long moment of staring Naruto stilled and slowly opened his eyes, looking towards Sesshoumaru. "We leave now Naruto." And with that, Sesshoumaru headed towards the door, at a leisurely pace, Sarutobi easily stepping to the front so as to lead the way. Naruto yawned as he languidly arose and followed after them, having gladly missed watching Sesshoumaru read and the Hokage do basically nothing.

---)(---

Sarutobi led Sesshoumaru and Naruto down the halls in the Academy, it was during the last lesson of the day so there was nobody during the hall. Sesshoumaru abruptly stopped. Sarutobi, who was about to enter a classroom noticed and turned to Sesshoumaru. "You will find us an empty room, you will bring the two girls to us, then they and Naruto will be sent out into the hall under a pretence of some sort." Sarutobi raised his eyebrow but easily followed Sesshoumaru's motive. This was a way of getting Naruto alone with the two girls, without them really knowing what was going on and without any interference. This way he could judge their reaction to Naruto and decide appropriately.

Sarutobi Nodded his head and turned back down the corridor, searching for the room in which he and Iruka often discussed the team assignments. Only moments later he found it, only two doors down from the classroom they were about to enter. He opened the door and gestured for Sesshoumaru to enter, which he did, Naruto following just behind. "I will be back with the girls in a moment." Sarutobi quickly exited, knowing Sesshoumaru would likely not deign to react to his statement, for it was obviously not required.

Once he left Naruto decided now was as good a time as any to ask some questions. He had quite a few questions, though mostly they probably all had the same answer, and were actually the same question just from a different perspective. "Lord Sesshoumaru?" Sesshoumaru turned his head to look at Naruto. "What… What do you mean, a beast was sealed inside me?" Sesshoumaru looked away for a moment before looking back. "I am unsure of the fine details, I merely saw some images shown to me by the spectre of death which came to claim your soul." Naruto's face turned pale, imagining his soul being sucked out. At this point Sarutobi returned with the two girls in tow. Knocking politely he entered with the two girls.

Both Sakura and Ino had been quite confused when the Hokage himself had come into their class and asked for their presence. Both had similarly deluded ideas and illusions of grandeur which may have lead to great and romantic encounters with their beloved Sasuke, however they both remained silent out of the utmost respect for their Hokage. Once they were in the room the Hokage gestured for them to stay at the door a moment. "Girls, would you mind waiting outside in the hallway for a moment with Naruto whilst we discuss something?" Obviously it was a rhetorical question.

"Yes Lord Hokage." They said almost in unison, before bowing quickly and shuffling backwards out the door.

Naruto made to follow their lead. "Naruto, one moment." Sesshoumaru looked at Sarutobi, and then towards the door. Sarutobi closed it, then quickly making a rather odd shape with his two hands, focused some energy which Sesshoumaru was unfamiliar with, and made a light seal around the door.

"They won't hear anything." Sarutobi explained, gesturing to the door.

Sesshoumaru looked from Sarutobi to Naruto, to finish his explanation. "In the visions I saw a great beast, of similar size to myself in my true form, radiating an amount of power I have never personally experienced." Sesshoumaru paused, purely for dramatic effect. He had quickly discovered that his rather whimsical use of such pauses worked rather effectively on Naruto, and to a lesser extent the other humans of this area. "A Toad of similar size, bearing a blond man in white came to face the beast. The man summoned the Spectre. Its hand pierced the man's soul and stretched out through it to grasp the soul of the beast. The soul was sealed within the body of a baby, which the Spectre identified as yourself." Sesshoumaru paused, not for dramatic effect but to let Naruto process this information, because all that was left was largely irrelevant to him now, but after what he deemed a long enough pause, Sesshoumaru continued. "After its soul was removed, the body of the beast crumbled to Ash. I have never seen a Youkai composed in such a way." Sesshoumaru paused, unsure as to what he should say about his encounter with the Spectre, unwilling to let Naruto know of the reasons why he resurrected Naruto in such a way, but also wanting to let Sarutobi know of the fear he induced in the spectre, to forestall any attempts at such a technique on himself. "As I approached your body, my sword, Tenseiga reacted. Pulling it from its sheath and pointing it towards the spectre caused it to halt its extraction of both your soul and that of the beast." Sesshoumaru paused here, listening intently to Sarutobi's breathing, he did not sniff the air left Sarutobi notice, Sarutobi's breathing was slightly irregular, and his heart beat audible, Sesshoumaru was pleased that he had affected Sarutobi in such a way. It was likely the old man had been considering such a technique for use against Sesshoumaru, in the worst case scenario, but now would no longer attempt such a technique, just as Sesshoumaru wanted it. "Though your soul had been partially eaten, I was able to have your soul replaced into your body, and also some of the energy the beast possessed. This is the source of your remarkable healing." Sesshoumaru decided now would be a good time to set Naruto's sights on how strong to get. "Because your demonic powers are based upon those of the beast, even though I believe your actual abilities will resemble my own, I believe you are capable of reaching a similar level of power as the beast." Sesshoumaru paused to gauge Naruto's reaction. So far he had been fairly solemn, but now he was bursting with pride, excellent. "Do not fail me." Just to make sure.

Naruto Nodded, more calmly than he would normally have, struggling to keep his composure and not shout and jump about, for Lord Sesshoumaru would most likely not approve, and he desperately wanted Sesshoumaru's approval.

Sarutobi also noticed Naruto's barely held enthusiasm and wondered upon his feelings towards this Sesshoumaru, that he was able to hold in his excitement and be surprisingly composed and polite, where nowhere in his life before had he displayed either characteristic was utterly surprising, but that such behaviour came at the behest of a sentence from this Sesshoumaru, this meant Naruto had truly become attached to the Demon – eer – Youkai, Sarutobi decided there was little action he could take at the moment. Sesshoumaru looked over to Sarutobi, who gestured towards the door, Sesshoumaru nodded.

Sarutobi then opened the door, placing a little burst of chakra into the door from the contact point on the handle, to disperse the sound proof seal he had placed. He then gestured towards Naruto. "Naruto, if you wouldn't mind?" Naruto realised that he was supposed to go wait outside with the girls, he figured that it had been planned for him to wait outside rather than him waiting outside being just a coincidence. After all he was there when Sesshoumaru outlined the plan. Walking slowly, still trying to maintain his composure, Naruto made his way into the corridor.

Sarutobi quietly closed the door behind him and turned to Sesshoumaru. "I assume you will be able to hear their conversation?" Sesshoumaru merely nodded, seemingly intent on the persons outside.

---)(---

Once the Hokage had closed the door, Ino and Sakura could no longer see inside the room, as there was no window in the door. Ino immediately tip-toed over to the door and put her ear to it. Sakura was immediately outraged and hissed at Ino. "_Ino! What are you doing? That's the Hokage in there!_" Ino ignored her for a moment before sighing and standing back up straight.

"I can't hear anything from inside, must've sound-proofed the room." Sakura made a quiet noise like _duh_ but Ino ignored it. And walked to the other side of the corridor to lean against the wall. "So what do you think this is all about forehead?"

Sakura barely contained her reaction to the insult, deciding instead to try and get some ideas thrown between them, perhaps make some progress on figuring out what was going on. "I don't know but, did you see that guy in there with Naruto?"

Ino perked up. "Yeah, oh my god he was beautiful, I'm not sure if I want him or if I want to look like him."

Sakura snickered. "I know what you mean. What do you reckon Naruto was doing in there with him?"

Ino pouted her lips and put her finger to them and tapped them a few times before answering. "I'm not sure, but I noticed Naruto definitely has a lot of respect for this guy, he was looking almost depressed, but when that guy spoke his face definitely lit up, even though he tried to hide it."

Sakura raised her eyebrow. "Really, so you reckon they know each other?" Ino nodded. "But Naruto's a nobody and that guy is blatantly royalty or something, did you see his hair?!" Sakura was blatantly jealous of his hair, but that was fair enough, it was probably longer than she was tall and in better condition than she could ever possibly hope for her own hair, Ino was in a similar position, though her hair was currently much longer, reaching her thighs when not in her ponytail.

"Yeah, but you know the Hokage and Iruka and some of the top Ninjas always seem to smile when they see him doing stupid stuff." Ino pointed out, a frown on her forehead as she attempted to remember such instances.

Sakura didn't remember anything like that. "Really? How did you notice something like that?"

Ino turned to Sakura. "You remember that time he stole the Hokage's hat and painted it orange?" Sakura nodded, smiling slightly at the memory. "Uh huh, well when they found him, they had him give it back after he had cleaned it, in front of the entire school, right?" Sakura nodded. "Well when he gave it to the Hokage, the Hokage held it up at an angle to Naruto before putting it back on, just as if he were imagining Naruto wearing the hat, and he smiled!"

Sakura gaped at Ino. "You're kidding! You don't think he believes all that stuff Naruto says about being Hokage? Come on, he's the class drop out."

Ino nodded again. "Yeah that's true, and the Hokage was like Jounin level by our age. When you think of it like that though, there's virtually nobody in the world that can compete."

Sakura frowned. "Wow Ino, that's kinda depressing."

Ino chuckled. "Oh C'mon, you don't want to be Hokage do you?"

Sakura shook her head. "Nah, you're right, but still. So how do you reckon he met that guy? You don't suppose they're long lost relatives do you?"

Ino shook her head. "Totally not, there's no way Naruto's related to someone like that, seriously. And he's never been around Konoha before, I mean the _Hokage_ is escorting him around, he's got to be important!"

Sakura nodded to Ino. "Totally, so then what, adoption, or an apprenticeship or something? You don't think it's a charity case do you?"

Ino paused a moment. "I doubt it, he doesn't look too charitable, but then we don't know if he's a ninja or not, maybe he has a really secret sense of humour and wants to see the resident prankster."

Sakura shook her head. "No way, besides they looked far too serious, you don't think Naruto pranked him do you?"

Ino gaped. "Oh my god, I'll kill Naruto if he did anything to that hair!" Sakura Chuckled. "Oh C'mon, you know it's true, you want that hair too!" Sakura nodded solemnly. "Well none of that explains why we're here."

Sakura paled. "You don't think he got us in trouble as well do you?"

Ino gaped. "No way, he wouldn't, right? He's never tried anything like that before."

Sakura nodded. "True, he generally owns up to his pranks, like he wanted to get caught so that everybody can stare at him or something."

Ino nodded. "Yup, that's exactly it."

Sakura stared at Ino. "What?"

Ino nodded, not looking at Sakura, but some random patch of wall. "Totally, you know nobody likes him. But they don't generally do anything, they just ignore him. Imagine that, he's an Orphan too. He obviously just wants the attention."

Sakura's mouth made a small 'o' shape but no sound came out.

At that moment the door opened and Naruto walked out, had bowed slightly so he could see the floor, blatantly not paying attention to where he was going, as he almost walked right into the far wall next to Ino.

Sakura spoke up first. "Oy Naruto!" Naruto didn't respond at first, though Sakura's comment prevented him from bumping into the wall. Looking around he saw Ino leaning against the wall in her standard two-piece purple outfit and bandages on her thighs and biceps, for… god knows why. And Sakura in her lycra shorts and Chinese dress standing in the middle of the deserted hallway. "Uh, hi Sakura." Naruto turned his head slightly. "Ino." He made a weak show at waving.

Ino decided to pick up the questioning. "Naruto, do you know why we're here?" Naruto looked at Ino, deciding what to say, he knew vaguely why they were there, probably… something to do with his team. Maybe one or both of them were on his team? Naruto paled at that. Ino, seeing Naruto pale for no reason asked again. "Hello?"

Naruto instantly reacted this time. "Uh sorry Ino, Um. I'm not entirely sure, I know a bit though." Ino raised her eyebrow.

Sakura took over. "Okay then, so what do you know?"

Naruto looked at Sakura. "Uh, right. Urm, this is about my Genin team, I think."

Sakura looked at Ino, who looked back at Sakura. Ino then looked at Naruto. "Does this have anything to do with that guy in the room with the Hokage?"

Naruto turned to Ino, feeling slightly interrogated, two-on-one, not in a good way. But since they obviously knew nothing about why they were waiting outside, it was bound to happen. "Yeah, uh. His name is Lord Sesshoumaru." Ino whistled and Sakura raised her eyebrow.

Sakura spoke up next. "_Lord_ Sesshoumaru?"

Naruto nodded. "Yeah, he's lord of… of… of the Western Lands of… Ja… Japan. I think. I was a bit dazed when he told me." Naruto supplied in his mind: 'I had just died, sort of.'

Sakura whistled this time. "Where's that?"

Naruto looked up from his melancholy of remembering his death. "Oh urm, I don't know." He scratched the back of his head and smiled sheepishly, forgetting his composure, well he had been doing well so far.

Sakura sighed and rubbed her forehead. Ino took up the interrogation next. "Okay, so what's he doing here, and why were you in there with him?"

Naruto turned to Ino. "Okay well, I'm his Ward." Naruto decided to omit his lack of knowledge on what a Ward is, since Sakura and Ino didn't seem puzzled in any way. And he didn't want to be shown up. "Lord Sesshoumaru and the Hokage are making some arrangements about my training."

Ino's eyebrow rose whilst Sakura looked incredulously at him. "_Your_ training? But you're the worst ninja in our class, what would a _Lord_ care about your training?" Ino looked at Sakura reproachfully, though Sakura didn't notice.

Naruto looked down, obviously not ready to deal with put downs like that at the moment, though he attempted an answer. "I'm… I'm not sure… but he said… that I remind him of his brother."

Once again Ino's eyebrow rose, currently she was trying to imagine Naruto with such regal features, possibly white hair, or maybe long blond hair. It totally didn't go, she ended up keeping the image spiky, making him significantly taller and wearing something regal like Sesshoumaru. His hair, in her mind's eye spiked out maybe six inches in various directions. She was slightly reminded of the pictures of the Yondaime Hokage, Ino looked out the window behind where she lent on the wall, the view of the Hokage Mountain was available from almost anywhere in Konoha as long as the window was in the right place in a building.

Sakura however looked incredulously towards Naruto, taking no time to think over his assertion. "_You _a relative of _him_?! Are you _kidding_?! Seriously Naruto, he's like, royalty and you're some loser Orphan. You don't look anything like him, he's like, _Regal_ and you're… you're _you_!"

Naruto had been about to look back up when Sakura said 'you' but the emphasis and then the following words crushed his hopes and he looked back down. But he tried anyway. "He… He said he had faith in me… to… to become… stronger…" Naruto was on the verge of tears now, the angry words of the Chuunin and the rabbit masked ANBU echoing in his mind, unconsciously a tear formed in his left eye and began a slow trail down his face, though with his face down as it was, it was barely noticeable.

Ino looked back from the window to Naruto, intent on comparing him to the view of the mountain, but with his head down as it was that was kind of hard, though the hair definitely matched. Definitely more sun-kissed like the Yondaime's, not pale blonde like her own families trade-mark hair colour. In-fact nobody else she had ever seen had hair like that, just those two. However she did notice something sparkly trailing down his face from her perspective, it took a moment for her to figure out what it was, but by the time she had, Sakura had already begun her response.

"What do you mean Naruto, _Faith_ in you to become stronger? You're the _dead last_ Naruto, not just last but _Dead_ last. Like the worst student ever, do you think you'll ever even _Pass?!_ Really Naruto what-" Sakura's tirade was cut off as the Hokage appeared to her right side, his hand on her shoulder, stopping her slow advance towards Naruto, which she had not realised she was doing.

Ino had been about to reprimand Sakura, Naruto had enough crap from people to deal with, they had _just_ been talking about it as well and then Sakura comes out with this. She was startled when the Hokage appeared from nowhere with his hand on Sakura's shoulder, but when she looked around she saw the other man, Sesshoumaru but he didn't look so Regal anymore. He looked more _Feral_. His eyes were tinted red and he had _Fangs_ showing. He stood in front of Naruto glaring fiercely at Sakura, though Sakura was staring at the Hokage and so she didn't notice.

The Hokage briefly glanced at Sesshoumaru, and then towards Naruto and then Ino, before turning Sakura towards himself, away from the glaring eyes of Sesshoumaru. "Sakura, the Leaf was built upon friendship and teamwork, I think you need to look carefully at what it takes to make a good Ninja." Sakura looked up at the Hokage, almost in tears. This was obviously a reprimand for something, probably for the way she was speaking to Naruto. But this was the _Hokage_ telling her off, she would probably get thrown out of the academy! The _Hokage_!! "You may go back to class now Sakura." Sarutobi gently guided Sakura away, turning her away from Sesshoumaru. Sarutobi turned to see Sesshoumaru visibly calming down as Sakura walked away, thankfully not looking back. Hopefully she would learn from this, she had potential but was easily blinded to things. He noticed Ino was staring at Sesshoumaru, almost horrified. He didn't blame her, he too had seen the fangs and the eyes, though he was more prepared for it, having known in advance that Sesshoumaru was a demon of some sort. He decided it would be best to distract Ino before she was caught staring. "Ino." She turned to look at Sarutobi, adopting a more formal posture. Sarutobi was silently impressed at her etiquette. "At the end of this year, you will be graduated and put on a team with Naruto and Nara Shikamaru." Ino's eyes widened but she didn't say anything. "This is a rather unorthodox situation, can I trust you not to tell your fellow students, lest they become jealous that you have been guaranteed graduation?"

Ino paused for a moment, genuinely taken aback by the situation, sure she they had touched on the idea of this being about Naruto's team, but being guaranteed Graduation. "Uh… Um… Yes Lord Hokage." Ino bowed. Then she thought of something. "Um… Lord Hokage?"

Sarutobi smiled down at Ino, even though he enjoyed seeing Naruto's rebellious side and being called 'Old Man' by him with reckless abandon, regardless that it was actually a minor offence not to show proper respect to the Hokage, he also did like it when his future Ninja acted so grown-up, even if Ino was obviously nervous, he felt such displays of maturity were a good omen for their future. "Yes, Ino?"

Ino was slightly surprised that he knew her name, when he had collected her and Sakura from class he had referred to them by their clan name only, and since her clan was famous, she had assumed that he only knew her clan name, completely having missed that he used her name only moments before. But she quickly got over that and pressed on. "Sh… Should I tell Shikamaru?"

Sarutobi was mildly impressed, he had neglected that detail, though it would not come up until graduation, tying up loose ends is always a good habit. "Ah yes, thank you Ino, that would be most convenient. Please also impress upon him that he should not boast about your unique situation." Ino nodded. "You may go back to class now, Ino. Thank you for your time and good luck with your Genin Exams."

Ino bowed formally. "Thank you Lord Hokage." And she scampered off, still nervous around Sesshoumaru, even though he was now completely composed.

---)(---

Earlier

Sarutobi and Sesshoumaru sat in relative silence, save for the noises of the conversation coming through the wall. Sarutobi, being a master of all elements and over a thousand different techniques, was well prepared for such a situation. He had set the air either side of the wall to be extremely dense and to thin out slowly over the space of half a foot or so, this helped sound travel through the wall because sound bounces off the mid-point between two areas of different matter density. A wall being drastically denser than air made most of the sound waves bounce away, back into the corridor. This technique reduced that effect. Also with the use of chakra strings through the wall, he was able to channel a significant amount of sound through, so it was easily audible for him.

Sesshoumaru was easily capable of hearing what was happening on the other side of the wall, regardless. However the old man's technique was most intriguing. Sesshoumaru was no scholar but he knew the general properties of sound and knew that nowhere near that much sound should be coming through the wall, therefore he concluded that something very intricate was at work. He considered whether it was worth investing in Naruto's tuition in such techniques, ways of harnessing his power. Much like a Tessaiga without the ability to send energy into the wind-scar, a demon of immense power but no means with which to utilise such power was virtually harmless, of course such a demon has never existed, however Naruto's power might be put to more efficient use, increasing his battle prowess for the same level of strength. Such things would be possible for Inuyasha as well, of course it would be unlikely for Inuyasha to learn such techniques, however the potential would exist, the potential to grow. That is what he was investigating.

Quietly turning to Sarutobi, Sesshoumaru passed along this sentiment. "This Sesshoumaru is uninterested in your stealth techniques or sneak attacks, however your ability to harness your energy in more efficient ways, to amplify your strength, is beneficial. I would like it if you were to create some such techniques for Naruto to use with his Youki."

Sarutobi silently nodded, that wasn't so much of a request as an order, though it seemed far more lenient, obviously Sesshoumaru realised that their techniques were designed for use with Chakra, not Youki and as such it would likely be difficult to pass on such techniques. Especially if Youki were to lack elemental affinity. But he was not called the Professor for no reason, surely he would come up with something, something good, Naruto deserved something good.

His attention coming back to the conversation, Sarutobi noticed that Ino had stopped talking and that Sakura's voice was rising slightly in volume. He glanced toward Sesshoumaru and was instantly on alert.

Sesshoumaru had let Sarutobi consider his options, he would not kill the man if they failed to produce any such techniques for Youki, as it would be understandable, and he knew the man would also definitely try. Instead he focused back on the conversation outside, so far he was favouring the blonde girl, she seemed more accepting, though only slightly at the moment. He had heard some of her conversation during the time in which he had been talking to Naruto and the pink haired one was much more critical, a trait he found decidedly _not_ endearing. Damsels do not complain. Though technically he was not looking for a damsel, for he would need a competent ninja to compare Naruto's progress against, but he was still expecting Naruto to be the main fighter of their group, to save them in times of crisis, should such an event occur and he needed her to be favourable to be saved.

The blonde girl had just become quiet and contemplative as they had begun discussing Naruto's relationship with himself, this part was of great interest, Naruto's emotions were giving off a potent enough smell that it permeated the gap in the door and Sesshoumaru could smell it. He was very anxious and hopeful at the moment. But the pink haired girl, reminding him more and more of a cat Youkai, kept on criticizing and Naruto's scent became more and more down-trodden. This was certainly not acceptable. Sesshoumaru found himself getting agitated. How dare she be so presumptuous of his Ward? By mere Association with himself Naruto's life was as precious to the village as their leader, perhaps more. How _dare_ she!

Just after Sarutobi had looked across, Sesshoumaru abruptly stood up and turned for the door, luckily his stride was measured and calm, though his visage was positively _feral_. Sarutobi panicked and quickly, with all his speed appeared at the door a few paces in front of Sesshoumaru. Quickly raising his hands in a placating gesture, he opened the door and disappeared outside, noticing Sakura's steady advancement he quickly put his hand on her shoulder from a position away from Sesshoumaru, it would not do for her to become so frightened of him, even if some small part of him thought she deserved it.

---)(---

As they were travelling through the streets back to the Hokage tower, Sarutobi decided now was a good opportunity to broach a proposition he had thought of during Sesshoumaru's conversation with Naruto in the room at the Academy. Sesshoumaru had mentioned that his true form was of comparable size to GamaBunta, the boss of the Toad summons, and that of Kyuubi, though he was not so arrogant as to imply he was as powerful as Kyuubi, he was certainly powerful. From the way he spoke Sarutobi guessed that he had dismissed GamaBunta as not being a threat, and he also knew Sesshoumaru had an idea of the power levels involved, as he mentioned how much power the Kyuubi had been exuding that fateful night. So If he were able to garner Sesshoumaru's assistance should they ever be beset by such creatures, their position would be much more favourable, as GamaBunta happened to be one of the strongest summons he had ever heard of, easily stronger than his own greatest summon, Enma, the Lord of the Monkeys. Even though Enma was drastically more useful in guerrilla combat, GamaBunta's sheer power, size and strength were incredibly formidable. Sarutobi wistfully remembered the power of GamaBunta, combined with the speed and ferocity of the Yondaime Hokage, it had been a truly devastating and frightening thing, one which had almost single handedly won them the third great Shinobi war. But he was getting off track, so he broached the subject. "Lord Sesshoumaru?" Sesshoumaru turned his face slightly towards the Hokage. "I have been wondering, our Shinobi force is impressive and ranked as the best, however at the moment none of the great summoners reside within our village. The summoner for the toad you witnessed facing against the Kyuubi, for instance. As such if we were beset upon by one of the great summoners, our ability to protect Naruto would be greatly impaired. And you mentioned how your true form was comparable to those of the greatest Toad, and the Kyuubi." Sarutobi paused to gauge Sesshoumaru's reaction, though there was no way he could discern anything from Sesshoumaru, so he continued on anyway. "Would you be willing to lend us your aid should such a situation arise, perhaps even be a summon of Konoha?" Sarutobi realised he was really pushing it, but it never hurt to ask, he hoped fervently that Sesshoumaru would not take offence if he was averse to the idea.

Sesshoumaru turned his face to regard Sarutobi then answered simply. "No." Turning back forward he continued on, oblivious to the mildly relieved face of Sarutobi. "However you raise a valid point." Sarutobi's eyebrow rose, there was no way, was there? Sesshoumaru lifted a seemingly random lock of his hair and observed it keenly, before he suddenly severed it with… were those sharp nails… _claws_?! "You will have this bound into a necklace." Sesshoumaru handed a small lock of his hair to Sarutobi. "None but you and Naruto shall touch that." Immediately Sarutobi stopped thinking of how to order one of the random patrolling Chuunin to get the lock made into a necklace.

"Very well." Sarutobi observed the lock of hair. "Will this allow Naruto to summon you?"

Sesshoumaru turned to Naruto. "When you learn to harness your Youki, think strongly of needing my presence, and I shall come to your aid." Naruto looked utterly overjoyed at this, this must mean that Sesshoumaru cared! He almost felt like he could cry! Sesshoumaru however decided his offer was entirely too touching and so looked forward. "I will expect you to show discretion, however do not allow yourself to die before I arrive." Naruto nodded, now feeling sombre. He had to be very careful, he definitely did not want Sesshoumaru to be disappointed with him, he would try to win with his own power, become strong. Surely then Lord Sesshoumaru would be proud of him!

---)(---

Inside the classroom, Sakura was still feeling anxious, once she had calmed down, she realised that the Hokage had mentioned her Ninja career, so he wasn't going to take it away from her. She would definitely improve her teamwork and friendship skills and study up, and everything. It felt horrible knowing he was disappointed in her, even though she wasn't entirely sure why.

Ino came into the classroom a minute later, she quickly sat next to Shikamaru, woke him up and whispered something into his ear. He looked at her strangely whilst the nodded profusely. After a while he mumbled something, probably 'troublesome' as he often does, and put his head back down. Seemingly satisfied with that encounter, Ino got up and sat next to Sakura. Strangely Iruka didn't seem to notice, or he didn't care, that Ino was disrupting his class. Perhaps it was because he assumed she was acting on the Hokage's behalf, which she was, good assumption.

Once Sakura looked up at Ino, she realised Ino was frantic, she was slightly shaking, but trying her best to be calm. She hissed to Sakura, _urgently_ "_Sakura_! Oh my god." She continued to whisper. Sakura glanced at Iruka, who seemed to be pointedly ignoring them, however she decided she didn't want to get into more trouble today, so she decided to be quiet. Ino looked like she needed to talk anyway. "Sakura, oh my god." Sakura raised her eyebrow. "The… that guy. When the Hokage put his hand on your shoulder, that guy appeared in front of Naruto." Ino moved slightly further towards Sakura and began whispering more quietly, though with even more urgency. "Sakura, he had _fangs_, and his eyes were _blood red_ and he was staring at you like he wanted you to _die_. Oh my god." Sakura now realised why Ino was so frantic, what the hell? Had that really happened? Ino continued. "I think the Hokage just saved your _life_!" Sakura paled. Ino grabbed Sakura's forearm and squeezed it tightly. "Sakura, you're going to apologize to Naruto _ASAP_! Right?"

At this moment it seemed Iruka's patience had snapped as he turned from the board, whatever he was writing seemingly written. "Okay, Yamanaka, Haruno, split it up. Now who can tell me what this means…" He pointed to the board, continuing with the lesson. Ino turned back to Sakura, looking expectantly and Sakura turned from the board to Ino, she nodded slowly and Ino got up and went back to the desk where her stuff was.

---)(---

In the main Meeting theatre of the Hokage Tower, not only was the entire council of Konoha present, some dressed in as much as a bathrobe, rushed by panicked Chuunin, with the statement that presence was mandatory or else face a charge of treason. Jounin and Chuunin and ANBU had been pulled from various duties, including patrols, administration, sleeping, the hospital, you name it. The entire Ninja system in Konoha had basically ground to a halt at mid-afternoon this fine day.

Not only had each of these Ninja been rather panicked to begin with, rushed by ANBU who wouldn't say what was going on, but that it was definitely serious, and that they respected the Third Hokage for being so calm in the face of, the ANBU generally went quiet around that time, repeating the first bit over and over. Truly, if only the Ninja knew they had been assembled to meet with a humanoid _Demon_ who had incapacitated or killed four ANBU in practically an _instant_, they would likely be less annoyed and more _petrified_. As were the ANBU who knew. The Chuunin who had assembled the council were also scared, though less so and more because the council were most certainly agitated, and using bold threats upon the Chuunin who roused them as a means of alleviating their agitation.

It had been over an hour since the last person had stepped through the door when Sarutobi opened the door and stepped through, followed by a most regal looking man, who looked rather beautiful, sporting a rather curious crescent upon his forehead, and two near slashes of crimson on each cheek. Though considering some of the clan markings in that very room, none of this was too far fetched.

Normally Sarutobi was a very patient man, who understood the concerns and emotions of others, and made it his business to listen into their opinions and problems, insulting, arrogant or inconsequential as they may seem, he still was fair and heard what everyone had to say before making his decisions. This time however, there was a lot at stake and when half the room erupted into a cacophony of demands to know why they had been summoned and then had to wait around for an _hour_, well. Sarutobi was not in the mood to listen right then. With a finely controlled burst of almost naturally occurring intent to kill being channelled through his Aura, as most Ninja are capable of doing and a surprisingly large and commanding shout of. "_Silence_" The room fell deathly still and most impressively quiet. Content that he had staunched the flow of questions, he proceeded towards the centre of the theatre, Sesshoumaru following behind him at a leisurely pace, Naruto at his side, almost gawking at all the Ninja present.

Sarutobi took up his position, Sesshoumaru content to stand to the side of the main podium and glare at the Ninja, occasionally sniffing the air, theorising that Naruto's murderer's were likely present and that getting that entire matter out of the way in front of the entire Ninja populace would most definitely assert his authority. It would also introduce Naruto to death, his instincts involving death, and all that. Lastly, if he were to have Naruto kill his Murderer's, or at least one of them, it would show progress with his new Demonic heritage, where Sesshoumaru was sure Naruto would be incapable of Murder without it.

After a moment of pause where Sarutobi carefully considered his options, he decided that it would be best to make sure everyone understood perfectly the situation they were in. Hopefully, with Sesshoumaru's acquiescence to aide them against any great summons, he would be able to make them see this as favourable for the village. For surely the fact that this was favourable towards Naruto would hold little sway with them, even though every single one of them owed him their existence. Perhaps using the fact that the Kyuubi is dead, and that they now had no excuse to deny the Yondaime Hokage's wishes would pull things in their favour? Or perhaps threats would be the way forward, Sesshoumaru had deftly shown how effective a threat could be, especially when there was no doubt on whether or not the threat would be carried out.

Standing tall Sarutobi gazed out upon the gathered Ninja, still quiet and spoke. "Many events have transpired this day." He paused for dramatic effect, releasing his aura, putting as much of a feeling of anger into it as he could, hoping to keep his Ninja quiet, disobedience would not do at this time. "Earlier today, a small boy who I have considered the hero of this village, and who I have treasured in kind with my own grandson, was _murdered_ by _my_ Ninja." Sarutobi stared out at the crowd, it was evident they were shocked, though at the statement or at the unbridled fury the Sandaime was emanating, was yet to be decided. Sandaime gestured towards Sesshoumaru, who seemed to be staring intently at one of his Chuunin, he easily guessed why. "This man, Lord Sesshoumaru personally saw to it that the Kyuubi was taken by the Shinigami, but that Naruto's soul remained." Sarutobi chose his words carefully here. Making it seem a necessity what happened, when clearly Naruto's state as a Hanyou was Sesshoumaru's conscious choice, rather than a necessity in bringing him back, but they need not know that. "However due to the grievous wounds inflicted upon him by _my Shinobi_." Another pause, some more anger, it would not do to let them forget his anger. "Some of the fox's demonic energy was required, to heal the wounds, lest Naruto die, _again_." Sarutobi looked over at Sesshoumaru, who looked back. Sesshoumaru looked away, back at the Chuunin. Sarutobi took it as an acceptance of his lie, and moved on. "Lord Sesshoumaru has taken Naruto to be his Ward and is entrusting Naruto's safety and future training to this village during his travels around the lands."

Sarutobi paused, he really didn't want to say this next bit, true as it may be. He did still have his pride, he was supposed to be one of the most powerful people in the world. Ah well. "You are here primarily to be informed that any forms of physical or verbal disrespect towards Uzumaki Naruto, Ward of Lord Sesshoumaru, will be treated as treasonous." The room erupted into a cacophony of noise. Sarutobi was about to subtly threaten them to be quiet when a veritable flood of energy washed over the room from Sesshoumaru easily silencing everyone in the room. He was glowing pink and his clothing was ruffling in the swirling air the energy caused.

Sarutobi looked towards Sesshoumaru, it seemed evident he had something to say. "Humans of this Village, you are ungrateful, treacherous and disgusting. I will assure you behave accordingly by threatening you." Sarutobi was expecting a reaction of some sort, but everyone seemed to be thoroughly stuck in place, except for Naruto, who seemed to be trying to prod the pink aura coming from Sesshoumaru, clearly it seemed he was unaffected by this outburst. "You have stolen the life of this boy and sacrificed it for your own survival. Now you have thrown it away and his life is mine." Sesshoumaru paused, punctuating the silence with an increase in the pressure his Youki was exerting upon the room. Unlike the Village Elder, he did not need to lace his energies with threatening emotions, for as a predator, and they as his prey, they instinctually knew they were in danger. Were he to truly be angry the frail among them would likely die from the stress, this idea was tempting, however unnecessary. He did not want to risk killing the Elder until he had time to write down instructions to a successor, this entire affair was horribly tedious as it is. "Your 'Hokage' is responsible for your actions. If there is any disrespect shown to my Ward by this village, or if this village fails in their duty towards his training, your Hokage will have failed, and I will kill him. Any replacement as Military leader will inherit the same responsibility." Sesshoumaru thought for a moment. "I find it prudent to inform you all that your technique to summon the agents of Death will be ineffectual against me." Sesshoumaru then abruptly released his aura, and the waves of energy which had been pouring over the room abated abruptly, and everyone in the room was all at once able to breathe once more. Except for Naruto who seemed disappointed now that the fun pink stuff was gone. It tingled strangely when he prodded it and it was entirely fascinating. Now that the room was silent, Naruto went back to his position beside Sesshoumaru, trying his best to act cool, like Sesshoumaru was.

Sarutobi took a moment to compose himself, truly that had been terrifying. He realised that there was no emotional undercurrent laced within Sesshoumaru's aura or energy, but much like the Kyuubi, Sarutobi and those present recognised it was the aura of one designed to kill them, it was instinctually terrifying, like nothing else he had encountered. True he had felt fear far worse, but there was an outside cause, Sesshoumaru's aura seemed to bring fear bubbling up from within.

Having composed himself, and realising that few in the room had managed the same, and noticing that Sesshoumaru seemed intent upon the Chuunin again, completely ignoring everyone else, and seemingly content with the words he had spoken, Sarutobi decided to get back to the matter at hand. "Truly this is a humbling experience. But as our law states, any action which will endanger the Hokage constitutes _treason_." Sarutobi paused, he didn't bother flaring his aura in any way this time, he was sure it would pale in comparison to Sesshoumaru's anyway, and there was no need to intimidate anyone present. "The population of Konohagakure will be notified of the treasonous nature of any adverse action they may take towards Naruto." Sarutobi once again paused, most eyes in the room were now upon him. The most sturdy of the group seemed to have grasped the fact that this was not a political debate of any kind, as they were accustomed to. This… _thing_ was telling them what to do, and their lives were at stake if they didn't do it. "On a related note, now that the Kyuubi is dead, and Naruto's personality is most assuredly the same as it has always been, many of you owe him a great apology, and I will see to it that the Yondaime's last wish be fulfilled." Sarutobi took a moment. Unsure of what to do now.

Sarutobi decided it would be best to dismiss everyone but the potential Jounin Sensei's and the Hyuuga in general, for everyone else was not needed. However before he could do so, Sesshoumaru started forward, calmly but clearly with purpose. He headed straight toward the Chuunin he had obviously been staring at the entire time. The man was entirely petrified as Sesshoumaru drew closer, he attempted to babble some form of coherent sentence, but he had begun shaking so much that barely formed syllables were coming out. "Human Ninja. You murdered one Uzumaki Naruto." Sesshoumaru did not wait for a response, with his arm as quick as lightning he grabbed the Chuunin by the throat and threw him to the centre of the room, just in front of Sarutobi's podium. Sarutobi stepped forward, his hands moving toward a placating gesture and his mind running through anything he might say to stall the situation, but Sesshoumaru looked up at him and his eyes flashed red, and Sarutobi knew there was nothing he could do about it.

Naruto was shocked, carefully sniffing the air he was able to confirm that the person who had been thrown not too far from him was indeed one of the people from the clearing, in fact he recognised the man as the one who had slit his throat. Unconsciously Naruto's hand moved up to protect his throat and tears began welling up in his eyes. This man had killed him, he remembered the horrid accusations and insults, why had he killed him. Naruto was surely a lot of trouble, but never had he deserved to be murdered so. He began to take steps backwards, away from the man however Sesshoumaru's voice snapped his attention from the man. "Naruto." Naruto's gaze jumped straight to Sesshoumaru who was standing where he had been as he threw the man. "You will kill this man." Naruto stared wide eyed at Sesshoumaru, his head began to shake side to side, the tears spilling freely from his eyes now.

Taking slow steps backwards now, one hand still at his throat, another pointing at the man. "N… No… I… He… No…" Naruto didn't get any further before Sesshoumaru simply disappeared from his position and appeared behind Naruto, his hand upon Naruto's shoulder.

"Naruto, you are under my command now. You will do as I say." Naruto's head swivelled and he looked at Sesshoumaru, then back down to the man, who seemed to be trying to fade into the floor, seemingly incapable of movement. Naruto noticed some steam coming from the man's neck, where Sesshoumaru had grabbed him. It smelt foul, like acid or something poisonous, but he paid it little mind as Sesshoumaru roughly pushed him forward. "Hokage, one of your weapons." Sesshoumaru pointed to Naruto.

Sarutobi's mind was blank, surely Sesshoumaru couldn't possibly expect Naruto to kill this man? The child he knew was basically incapable of killing. However he acquiesced, he hoped Naruto wouldn't and that Sesshoumaru would kill the man, as he had stated either one of them was to do so. Acting absent mindedly, Sarutobi gestured towards one of the ANBU along the side of the room, and signalled him over to himself. Looking at the dog masked ANBU as he stood to his left, Sarutobi laid his hand out flat. "Your weapon." The ANBU hesitated briefly before efficiently removing his Ninja-to and placing the handle securely in Sarutobi's hand.

Naruto had not moved from his position a few feet in front of Sesshoumaru, his mind completely blank, shivering from anxiety. He couldn't possibly kill someone, the concept was absurd. Reason failed him, it was just a fact, he couldn't do it. Naruto jumped dramatically as the Hokage's hand landed upon his shoulder. Sarutobi ignored the tear stricken gaze Naruto was looking at him with and grabbed Naruto's hand. Firmly placing the Ninja-to within his grasp, Sarutobi let go of the weapon. It swung down to the ground under its own weight, Naruto's hand gripping it but his arm putting up no resistance to gravity. Sarutobi looked Naruto in the eyes and put on his best comforting smile and patted the boy on the head. He said nothing, for he felt it was not his place, truly as he thought about it this man had not beaten or abused Naruto but actually killed him. Such a thing was not something one could take revenge for, though were it possible it would be the most worthy cause for revenge, to avenge your own Murder at the hands of someone whose life you participated in saving as a baby. Truly Naruto deserved this, even if he did not want it. Standing up from his position, Sarutobi backed away and stood back at the podium. With a slight gesture of the head he signalled Naruto onwards. But Naruto didn't budge.

After a few moments Sesshoumaru decided that Naruto was depressed, and had become accustomed to the scorn of the village. Acceptance did not fuel anger or rage, and it most certainly would not ignite his Youkai instincts, he would have to step in. Though he was loath to do so. "Naruto." Naruto turned quickly to him, hope radiating from him, as if he thought Sesshoumaru would allow him reprieve from his task. "This man, what did he do to you?"

Naruto shivered as he thought about it, his free hand reaching again for his throat. He opened his mouth, but no sound came out. Seemingly incapable of forming the words. Sesshoumaru deduced this was the Ninja who had slit Naruto's throat. "This is the one who slit your throat after they had finished torturing you?" Sesshoumaru said all this as calmly as possible, predicting that his lack of emotion would spurn Naruto's own. Force him to accept these events as fact that he was in the unique position to take vengeance for. "Your life was taken from you and sacrificed to save this village. This man's existence required your sacrifice and he repaid you by your murder." Sesshoumaru saw the glint appearing in Naruto's eyes, he was getting through to the Youkai that was now a part of Naruto. That instinctual pride and self respect would not allow such a slight. "You will kill him and take vengeance for your own murder."

Naruto was torn up inside, he couldn't stop thinking about the time that the man cowering in front of him, seemingly incapable of movement had been so full of life and hatred and rage. So intent upon his own demise, it was frightening to remember the events which led up to your own death, and so soon after the event too. But as Sesshoumaru spoke a boiling anger filled him. Sesshoumaru was right, this man's very existence was because he had suffered, yet this man had taken his life from him. How _dare_ he. Ungrateful, lowly _human_! How _dare he_!

Sesshoumaru almost smirked to himself when he saw Naruto's eyes slowly turning purple and a slit forming. He found the nature of his own eyes when he harnessed his Youki to be far more impressive, but Naruto's weren't bad. And most importantly he was harnessing his Youki. Excellent progress indeed.

Naruto turned from Sesshoumaru to the man, words failed him as he felt cold rage. He was not spurned into action as anger normally brought from him, he merely took in the weak form of the human before him and was disgusted and insulted. How _dare_ such a lowly human murder him. How _dare_ he! After all that he had _suffered_! Naruto slowly stalked the figure on the floor, instinctually noticing that his posture left open many weak points. He decided upon the man's exposed neck however, he felt it just that he slit the man's throat in much the same way that his had been slit. Naruto didn't know his eyes were red, he didn't know that a faint red aura began to be emitted from his skin, he didn't know that the slit in his pupils removed some of his peripheral vision and enhanced his ability to focus on one spot, the spot he was currently focused upon was the rapid beating of the Jugular vein in the man's neck, seen only as slight ripples in a small patch of skin of the neck, but Naruto _did_ know what those ripples represented. Naruto was drawn to them, he felt like he was pacing his feet towards the man in time with the beats of his heart, while in reality he was pacing rather slowly, his vision seemed to gain clarity and depth with each beat, each ripple of the skin. Naruto unconsciously cleaned his canine teeth with his tongue, an instinctual preparation, to make sure they are sharp, but he did not know that, he did not even know that his mouth was open or that his tongue was moving.

Almost unexpectedly, for Naruto had seemed content in his slow stalking of the man, Naruto struck. Expertly he jabbed the tip of the Ninja-to into the man's jugular vein. No more and no less but exactly to the centre of the vein and back out again in a swift motion. The room was still as the man began to convulse, his hands twitched as if they wanted to move to cover the wound on his neck, but they seemed incapable, as if he were incapacitated. Everyone in the room watched in morbid fascination as spurts of blood jetted from the wound in time with his heart beat, until slowly the jets lowered in frequency and power, until all that was left was a steady trickle of blood from the man's neck, lying in a wide pool of his own blood, his hands now motionless.

Naruto stared at the hole on the mans neck, watching intently until he instinctually knew that the man's heart had stopped beating. At this time his rage abated, his bloodlust was sated and he felt a brief satisfaction as his eyes slowly reverted to his normal cerulean blue and all at once he was no longer staring at a man who had deserved his vengeance but a lifeless corpse, who he had killed.

Naruto immediately dropped the Ninja-to into the edge of the puddle of blood, just reaching past his feet, he tried to walk backwards frantically but the slippery blood around his feet caused him to fall backwards upon his behind rather painfully, but he paid that no mind and continued to scramble backwards frantically until he bumped into the legs of Sesshoumaru. Quickly looking behind himself he recognised where he was and looked up. Sesshoumaru gazed down at him impassively. After a long moment in which they stared at each other Sesshoumaru spoke. "Very good." He paused, Naruto's tear stained face looked surprised, he was so horrified at what he had done, but Sesshoumaru was pleased? Of course he was completely forgetting that Sesshoumaru himself had told him to do it. "You have already accessed your Youki, however you need training to control your instincts." Sesshoumaru paused, Naruto smelt wholly of fear still, he had anticipated that his praise would have been enough assurance, perhaps the comment about his instincts was too much too soon. Damn Sesshoumaru wasn't used to dealing with humans, even Hanyou for that matter, his mind was still human. Sesshoumaru looked forward, towards the body. That had been a clean kill, though his instincts seemed to have partially taken over, he had stayed clear of outright bloodlust or feral behaviour, he had remained conscious of himself, for the most part and acted rationally, even if under a different set of rationale. Yes, Naruto was making good progress. "You are making good progress, I see my faith has not been misplaced." Sesshoumaru did not need to look at Naruto, for he could smell that Naruto, though still slightly afraid and ashamed, was feeling pride. Yes, Sesshoumaru decided that humans were not so complicated, his plans would progress nicely at this rate.

Turning to Sarutobi Sesshoumaru made sure the aged man knew Sesshoumaru was looking before Sesshoumaru looked towards the body. Sarutobi instantly knew what was required. "Ah um Mizuki, yes. Would you please go to the morgue and retrieve a body-bag and stretcher." Mizuki, a teaching assistant from Naruto's academy stood, saluted and disappeared in a poof of smoke. Sarutobi returned his gaze back to Sesshoumaru, who merely nodded. Sarutobi assumed that meant he was done being dramatic for now. Turning back to the still entirely shocked gathering of Ninja Sarutobi addressed them. "I believe that is the end of our meeting. Remember it is your responsibility to keep the civilian populace in line." Sarutobi paused momentarily whilst he considered who might be good for helping Naruto with his Youki. "Will the Jounin Sensei for the next graduating class and the Ninja of the Hyuuga please stay behind. Thank you. Dismissed." As soon as Sarutobi had finished, many poofs of smoke were seen. Obviously more than happy to be gone from Sesshoumaru's presence. Others sat still stunned before quietly walking out of the room, in groups but silent a few poofed into smoke as others were leaving the room. Looking over at Naruto it seemed as if Naruto was content with smelling all of the people who were passing by him. Not long afterwards Mizuki re-appeared with a body-bad and a fold-out stretcher. He and another Chuunin who had been about to leave, who Mizuki had roped in to help, efficiently transported the body away, Sarutobi would inform the cleaners about the room later. Sarutobi did not miss the fact that as soon as Mizuki appeared back inside the room, Naruto's gaze did not leave his form, and when he had left, his gaze was intent upon the door he left through for quite some time. Sarutobi had a feeling of foreboding about that, though if he was right, there would be little he could do about it.

Once everyone who hadn't been asked to stay had left the room Sarutobi turned to those remaining. "Ah yes. You are here because we have yet to sort out the matter of Naruto's training. During the rest of this Academic year Naruto will be undergoing training to draw out and control his Youki. Once this year's class graduates he will be placed onto a team, but Sesshoumaru would like to decide upon his Jounin Sensei." Turning to Sesshoumaru, Sarutobi gestured towards the assembled nin, who had moved down to the bottom seats in the theatre so as to be closer and seemingly still involved in the meeting.

Sesshoumaru looked along the assembled Ninja, seemingly browsing from a shelf, all remained quiet, still remembering the oppressive and fearful aura he was so easily capable of producing. Sesshoumaru's perusal stopped upon Hyuuga Hiashi. "You are leader of the clan with white eyes?" Sesshoumaru prompted.

Hiashi had not been expecting to be directly addressed, perhaps by the Hokage. Also, he was quietly impressed at Sesshoumaru's ability to analyse a situation. Hiashi nodded to Sesshoumaru's question. "Your clan can see the living energies within a body?" Hiashi was unsure of whether or not he was talking about chakra.

Hiashi stood and looked at the Hokage briefly, though the Hokage seemed expressionless. "My Clan's ability allows us to see Chakra and its pathways through the body." Sesshoumaru regarded him for a moment.

"Can your ability see the energies flowing through this Sesshoumaru?" Hiashi did not immediately react, though he assumed it was an invitation to test whether or not he could, but he was unsure as to whether or not he actually wanted to. Deciding that there was little to be done in this situation other than to go along with it, Hiashi silently activated his Byakuugan and immediately saw only a blinding green light where Sesshoumaru stood. Bracing himself against the sight Hiashi concentrated on Naruto's position. In Naruto's case though his entire body seemed bathed in this ethereal glow, his own colour a fiery red, there were clearly pathways through which the main body of this energy flowed. Pathways which did not share many characteristics with the Chakra pathways he was used to seeing. Deciding he had his answer, and also to avoid any damage from looking upon the searing image of Sesshoumaru's power for too long, Hiashi silently deactivated his Byakuugan and blinked a couple of times before focusing back upon Sesshoumaru.

"My Byakuugan can see your energy, however you have so much that I cannot penetrate it. However Naruto has clearly defined pathways in his body." Hiashi waited for Sesshoumaru's response.

Sesshoumaru was silently proud that he had so much Youki that to those able to view it, there was so much that they could not actually make out these pathways. He was also pleased that they could see the Youki and whatever pathways that may exist within Naruto. "I have read that your clan is also excellent in the reading of emotions."

Hiashi nodded again, not entirely sure where this was going. But Sesshoumaru proceeded on. "You will choose one member of your clan who will train Naruto until such time that he is placed upon a team." Hiashi nodded.

After a pause where Sesshoumaru seemed to be expecting something Hiashi spoke up. "Very well."

Sesshoumaru however still seemed to expect something from him. Though he became increasingly unnerved Hiashi stood up to Sesshoumaru's scrutiny. Sesshoumaru however was expecting Hiashi to do as he was told, now. "You shall select someone now."

Hiashi was startled as Sesshoumaru spoke after a seemingly random pause wherein he merely scrutinized Hiashi. Now understanding what it was that Sesshoumaru had been expecting. Hiashi nodded and turned to his clan. He decided it would be in his best interests to choose someone who had no real experience with the Kyuubi, lest they or Hiashi himself be charged with treason for endangering the Hokage. His choices due to that were narrowed down to a girl, Celene, his Niece once removed, a member of the main branch and quite the rebellious and thick-headed teenager. Or Neji, his Nephew who had recently graduated. Neji had been brought as his own retainer to this meeting, as he was keen for Neji to experience the trivia of council meetings, and perhaps use his vast intellect to come to an understanding of how the political system in Konoha worked, perhaps in that way he would be able to indirectly influence Neji's hate of himself and the Main branch of the Hyuuga family to fade.

Thinking over it quickly Hiashi decided upon Neji. Callous in his words he may be, he was undeniably intelligent and would not put himself or anyone else in danger from this white haired Demon through his own actions. Turning first to the Hokage, Hiashi spoke. "Lord Hokage, am I to assume this will be a mission?" the Hokage wordlessly nodded. Turning back around Hiashi signalled out Neji with his Gaze. "Neji, I trust you to represent our clan in this matter. I have confidence you will not fail us." Hiashi belatedly realized that Sesshoumaru had broken the Sandaime's law about the Kyuubi, though obviously it did not apply to him, and also since the Kyuubi was now apparently dead, it might not apply at all. Either way he would have to have a talk with Neji after the meeting, if it could be called that, was over.

Neji, for all his genius, was quite simply dumbfounded. He had expected some main branch member with haughty manners and a clear forehead to be placed as the personal tutor to what was obviously such an important figure. Neji knew that though this had all been forced, it was still how Ninja and politics worked. He had long ago concluded that politics within the Hyuuga clan was based around strength, for the Main branch kept all the great strength of the Jyuuken for themselves, to maintain superiority. Politics within the village was based on strength, the strongest Ninja became Hokage. Politics within the world was based on strength, those who were weak in their position were crushed and their land taken. Neji was also taken aback by the way in which Hiashi phrased his order. He had spoken as if he considered the Hyuuga to be one family not two. That Neji's failure would reflect badly upon them as a whole and not just the lowly branch house. Deciding however that now was not a time for contemplation, Neji nodded towards Hiashi from his seated position.

Hiashi turned to Sesshoumaru, to gauge his reaction. Sesshoumaru however ignored him and walked forwards towards Neji. "Your eyes are capable?" Neji was rather intimidated and taken aback by the abrupt question directed towards him, however he was nothing if not prideful in his eyes, which were possibly the strongest his clan had seen for more than one generation, more easily than any other Neji could pierce solid objects, locate the Tenketsu, Neji could see further and better with his Byakuugan than the Hyuuga in general thought possible. Immediately he nodded and Sesshoumaru seemed pleased with the confidence he showed, but he was not done yet. "You are competent at reading the emotions of others?" Again Neji was sure of his answer, one of Neji's favourite tactics within a battle was to crush the hope and fighting spirit of his opponent before their fight even began. More so than in any physical pain he might induce, Neji enjoyed the mental torture he was want to induce. Yes he was very good at reading emotions, as such Neji again nodded confidently. Sesshoumaru stared at him a moment longer before beginning his instruction. "Very well, Youki in the young is connected to emotions, you will help Naruto control his Youki and his emotions separately. You will also teach him to scent out the emotions of others." Not bothering to see if Neji would nod this time, Sesshoumaru turned his head to the Hokage. "This Sesshoumaru will now select an appropriate teacher." Sesshoumaru then calmly moved to the centre of the room and awaited everyone to accommodate his whims.

Sarutobi stepped into action once again, slightly enjoying the reprieve from his paperwork, and the silence and obedience of his Ninja, truly he would never consider resorting to methods such as Sesshoumaru's and he did wish his Ninjas were not so afraid, however it was nice when people did what you said for once, rather than questioning everything and getting uppity. Of course this mostly described the Konoha Council, for the most part his Ninja held great respect for him.

Sarutobi briefly wondered what the 'Anti-Sarutobi' element of the council might do with this situation, he was no fool, he knew his old team mates and rival wanted him out of office. And he also knew that they would be able to see some sort of benefit in Sesshoumaru killing him off, Sarutobi knew however that would be a bad thing. Sesshoumaru seemed honourable enough, and quite pleasant in an 'I'm currently threatening your life for you to do as I say.' Kind of way, but as long as things went his way, he was amiable. However the brief glimpses Sarutobi had seen of his reaction to things not going his way, or people being uppity, showed him that they could not afford to do so. And Sarutobi knew that if such elements of their Council had their way, relations with Sesshoumaru would break down, and they would break down fast. Most probably leading to the destruction of their village. Sarutobi surmised Sesshoumaru would simply have another village train Naruto, and then continue whatever it was he did.

Breaking out of his thoughts as it seemed Sesshoumaru was done for the moment, as was exemplified by the fact he had just finished outlining the next thing on their agenda and was now standing calmly waiting. Sarutobi moved into action. "Ah yes, Lord Hyuuga, thank you for yours and your clan's time. Would the Jounin Sensei for the next graduating class please make a line at the front here." Sarutobi pointed to the edge of the seating arrangements and stepped back, to let the Ninja of the Hyuuga clan make their way out. He noticed among them a boy from last year's graduating class, Neji he believed. Catching the Eye of Hiashi, and then looking towards Neji and back, Sarutobi signalled to Hiashi his concerns. Hiashi responded by glancing toward Neji and then back toward Sarutobi and nodding briefly. Sarutobi would trust that Hiashi would control any damage Neji's new knowledge may have the potential to cause, there was now a lot of responsibility on the young Hyuuga's shoulders, after all. Arrangements could be made for their training sessions next time Gai's team were at the administration office for a new mission.

Once the Ninja of the Hyuuga clan had calmly left the meeting theatre and five Jounin were lined up with rigid posture and eyes straight ahead, Sarutobi looked towards Sesshoumaru, ready to indicate that he could go ahead, however Sesshoumaru seemed to already be intently scrutinising those present, and so Sarutobi left him to it. Looking over towards Naruto Sarutobi noticed hat he was also regarding, well Naruto was more staring at the various Jounin present, currently Kurenai had his interest, from the line of his sight Sarutobi guessed he was rather fascinated by the deep red colour of Kurenai's eyes. Not that Sarutobi could blame him, Kurenai's eyes alone made her one of the most attractive women in Konoha, her general ethereal beauty and the rather risqué clothes she was prone to wearing only added to the effect, but he was getting off track. Her eyes were actually the source of a hereditary ability, though Kurenai had not manifested this ability, and in fact was a mistress of Genjutsu, the art of illusion, this ability was not nearly as impressive as that of the Hyuuga or the Uchiha, whilst they were around anyway. No it was a great improvement upon the reflective quality of some feline's eyes, which allowed them much improved night vision, Kurenai's eyes would in fact emit a faint light, which they could easily pick up again, allowing her almost perfect night vision, however she had never been able to activate this ability.

Aside from Kurenai there was Kakashi, survivor of Kazama Arashi's Team Seven, possessor of a single Sharingan and alleged genius, a man who likely knew more techniques than Sarutobi himself, though he didn't learn many of them through legitimate means.

After Kakashi was Asuma, who stood next to Kurenai. Asuma was Sarutobi's own son, though they had not seen eye to eye on many matters for some time, Sarutobi still loved him and hoped that his budding relationship with Kurenai would turn out for the best, Sarutobi also held faith that even through their falling out's Asuma still loved Sarutobi as his father. Asuma was a master of hand-to-hand combat and utilized his wind natured chakra alongside his weapons designed to channel said chakra in his formidable technique.

On the other side of Kurenai was Anko, tragic surviving apprentice of Orochimaru's Genin team, her life had been basically ruined by Sarutobi's own favoured student and this knowledge still pained the old man. Though Anko was prone to flaunting her apparent sadism and a penchant for the overdramatic… no, the _highly_ over dramatic, Sarutobi knew she was still a lonely girl inside. Of course if he were to ever even hint to her that he thought so, she would probably never forgive him, for Anko was nothing if not independent.

Next to Anko, and lacking his usual rather fake cough was Gekkou Hayate. A rather prodigical student of the art of the sword, Hayate had learnt every blade technique Konoha had to offer before he even attempted the Chuunin Exams, not long after he created his own style, which he has shared with many of his comrades, the Dance of the Crescent Moon. Hayate was a rather shy fellow, however he had gotten lucky not long ago, and even though shy, he had managed to form a relationship with one of Sarutobi's ANBU. Hayate had been pretending to be sick ever since his first Chuunin exam where he actually _was_ sick and his opponent horribly underestimated him due to his haggard appearance, losing most thoroughly. Perhaps he had decided he liked being underestimated. Of course one of the basic Ninja rules was that you should never underestimate your opponent, though this was probably the most often ignored rule.

As Sesshoumaru continued to pace and regard the Jounin lined up, Sarutobi looked toward Naruto and wondered of his future.

---)(--

Omake:

Naruto had found out what Sesshoumaru's claws were capable of cutting through steel, and that perhaps his own would become that strong in time. Immediately he had an idea. He rushed out and came back with a blank forehead protector, the kind often used by children to 'play' ninja, or for a customised engraving, such as the kind the Legendary Toad Hermit Jiraiya has. He presented it to Sesshoumaru and asked in a rather blunt but polite way if Sesshoumaru would scratch three lines into the metal in the middle, in a kind of -.- configuration. Once Sesshoumaru had complied Naruto rushed away towards the Academy.

Completely ignoring the outraged cries of the Academy instructors in the training fields with a class, whose class he barged straight through, Naruto ran full pace towards his old Classroom. He hadn't been back here for some weeks now and he was hoping he hadn't been forgotten.

Opening the door, everyone in the class turned to look at him. Smiling sheepishly he waved to Iruka before making a beeline towards Sasuke.

Iruka obviously objected. "Naruto, what the hell are you doing in here? You're not a member of this class anymore." Naruto ignored him and when he got to Sasuke's desk he presented the forehead protector to Sasuke.

"Hey, Bastard. I had this made for you. I figure the Uchiha must have come from somewhere before Konoha, and with your facial expression being so set, it must have been from this village." Here Naruto pointed to the symbol on his forehead protector. "Anyway, here you go." Before anyone could stop him or object, Naruto had somehow placed the forehead protector quite neatly upon Sasuke's forehead. Sasuke stared at Naruto with a blank expression. "I knew it, see your ancestors must've come from the Hidden Village of Deadpan." Chuckling at his own joke Naruto ran off, everyone in the class who understood what Deadpan meant was eerily quiet.

Iruka tried to keep himself business like. "This is all fine and well, but Sasuke when you graduate you will have to remove that forehead protector." Sasuke merely turned to Iruka, the forehead protector still in place and stared blankly. But what Iruka saw was a strange cartoon of Sasuke turning towards him where there was no particular expression except for -.-, with his forehead protector also looking like -.-. Quietly Iruka began to chuckle to himself. "Yes, well let's get back to our work class."

In the Hokage's office, spying upon Naruto's antics with a rather useful crystal ball, the Hokage contented himself to chuckle lightly whilst Sesshoumaru felt a small sense of foreboding appear. For Foxes have always been known as notorious pranksters, infamy on par with their fame for illusion. Sesshoumaru looked out the window, imagining being pranked in such a childish way by Naruto. Sesshoumaru's facial expression contorted slightly and a single phrase passed through his consciousness.

-.- 'This Sesshoumaru is not amused.'

---)(---

Omake 2:

Naruto was standing in front of Kakashi, Kakashi had decided to give Naruto some advice, for whatever reason. Perhaps it was because Naruto had somehow replaced his favourite book with a five year old's colouring-in-book and he was not happy. As such he thought he should give the child some advice, then see if he would be able to follow that advice. He had been thinking of how to get his book back without being killed for treason for a while now. While Naruto was hardly pulling any pranks anymore, as he realised it was unfair as he was basically now immune to repercussion, he still did the odd thing he thought was funny.

Kakashi had decided his retribution would come in the form of embarrassing Naruto publicly, for Naruto had stolen an age rated book, with graphic imagery depicting things someone of Naruto's age should not see depicted. As such he would threaten to let Konoha know that he was into porn, but in such a way that it would be obvious that to stop him from doing so, he would give Kakashi his book back.

After Kakashi had found Naruto and told him he had been seeking Naruto out specifically to give him some advice, Naruto was all ears, even if he was a bit weary as Kakashi obviously knew it was him who had stolen _the book_.

"Now Naruto, as you are becoming a Ninja, I feel I should let you know what one of the golden rules for Ninja is." Naruto's eyes sparkled in anticipation. "A good Ninja must always look _underneath_ the _underneath_." Kakashi paused for Naruto absorb this information before he delivered his gambit. However Naruto's response came first.

Kakashi watched in puzzlement as Naruto seemed to forget he was there and stare at his hands. First Naruto took his first hand and lay it flat in front of him, then took his other hand and pointed out his index finger and put it above the first, then mouthing the word 'underneath' he moved his index finger underneath the flat palm. Then after having stared at this situation for a while, he turned the palm upside down with the index finger following, so that it was now above the palm. He then mouthed the word 'underneath' again, and moved his index finger to underneath the hand, on the side with the back of his hand. He then twisted his hand again, so that it was now how it was, moving his index finger with it which now came to be once again above his hand. After having stared at this arrangement for a moment he looked at Kakashi incredulously. "That's just the top again."

Kakashi wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry, this was not how it was supposed to go. "No, Naruto, _underneath_ the _underneath_ requires you to dig _deeper_. To find the secret within the secret." He was sure this explanation was more straight forward.

Naruto looked at him for a moment before shaking his head. "Nu uh, Neji-sensei said that two negatives is a positive so it's just the top again. You're thinking of just further underneath."

Kakashi decided that whoever this Neji was, he didn't like him. Blasted correct grammar, it's a metaphor for **bleep**'s sake. Taking a calming breath Kakashi decided to approach the problem from an entirely new angle. "Damn it boy, give me my book back."

Realisation quickly dawned upon Naruto as he turned tail and ran. Kakashi cursed and decided it would just be easier to get a new one.

---)(---

Author's Note, Read if you will review.

Okay, I'm spent for now. I was planning to get through everything involving Sesshoumaru in the first chapter, and make the rest primarily Naruto material, however I'm almost at 30,000 words here, I think that'll do for now.

Also, I am completely un-decided as to who would make a good teacher. Each character has their flaws and strengths and I've given a brief outline of how I see each, avoiding the tempting rant about how I dislike Kakashi, as at this point he has done nothing wrong. So, if you'll be leaving a review, give me your opinion on who should be their sensei, Why's aren't required but would be nice

Ja ne.


	2. Discoveries

Well, thanks to everyone who read my note when they reviewed, your thoughts and opinions have been very nice, but what one person said really made it for me. Naruto is trying to be more serious, even though he's really no good at it. So, well read and find out who he gets but they're there to balance that out.

Oh about the 'This Sesshoumaru' stuff, I know it's weird but that's how he refers to himself in Inuyasha. I kinda like it, if you take one of the translations of his name which means the killing perfection, or perfect killer and substitute that in there, it becomes far more intimidating. 'This Perfect killer'. But yeah, it's not some random thing I decided to throw in there.

New important information about Tenseiga, whether you watch Inuyasha or not.

In the manga, which continued on past where the Series left off, Sesshoumaru's sword Tokijin is broken, and Tenseiga has Totosai re-forge it (complicated, don't ask). In its new (and original form) its power is that over death. It can create a portal and send someone straight to the underworld, as well as bring them back. As such I reckon it's not too big a stretch for portals in general.

Last thing, I know my use of grammar sucks but meh… If anyone feels like Beta-ing my chapters, my e-mail is in my profile. I would be happy to receive any such help but otherwise I won't be putting any extra effort to correct it, since I honestly don't know that much about grammar. In my studies, I'm only required to be competent at scientific writing, which is way different, so I don't really _need_ better grammar. Anyway, yeah sorry about it if it bothers you.

Also, about the lack of Japanese, or the use of it sometimes, I'm not Japanese, so I'm trying to do without when there's a suitable alternative, but often there isn't. But where there is, even if it sounds stupid, I'll go with that. I think it's generally best to stick to one language, especially if you don't speak any other languages.

---)(---

Sesshoumaru's gaze wavered between each of the Jounin before him. This was a difficult decision because it seemed that humans fighting prowess was not reliant upon their strength but upon these techniques they employed, techniques he was quite sure Naruto would now be incapable of, so their ability to teach these techniques was only secondary. He would need someone who would put a lot of effort into their teaching and who would not shelter Naruto from battle. For just as it had been for Sesshoumaru, and all the Youkai before him, Naruto's actual abilities would likely manifest in battle, and training would only be useful in honing his skills. As such he decided to interview the Jounin present.

"Potential teachers." Sesshoumaru began, making sure they knew he was referring to them, his faith in human intelligence still lacking. "This Sesshoumaru will ask you questions. You will reply truthfully, for this Sesshoumaru will know your lies. Answer in turn, starting with the man with different eyes." Sesshoumaru didn't look towards Kakashi or indicate him in any way, but they all knew it was him Sesshoumaru was referring to. They also wondered how Sesshoumaru knew Kakashi's hidden eye was different, or that there was in fact an eye there at all.

And so the questions began. Sesshoumaru turned to the side to regard the window and the scenic beauty of the outside as he considered his first question. He did not turn towards them as he began addressing them. "Which among you is strongest in battle?"

Kakashi was a bit confused, he was expecting some sort of opinion or explanation based question, but whatever, he was supposed to answer first. Looking across the assembled group, they all seemed to be looking towards him. Subtly pointing at himself in a questioning manner, he received nods of agreement. "That would be me."

Asuma assumed that another answer was not needed, though after a lengthy pause he thought one was still required, Sesshoumaru had implied they would each be giving an answer to his questions, so he had been about to answer when Sesshoumaru began again, almost as if he had been waiting for Asuma to begin to speak. "Very well. Summarise your abilities."

This time it was obvious how the questioning was going so Kakashi maintained his rather lazy stance and began first. "My main strength is Ninjutsu, I have decent speed and basic knowledge of seals. I also have basic Genjutsu ability and under this headband I have a Sharingan, which can copy Jutsu and see through Nin, Gen and Taijutsu. I can also summon tracking dogs. My main elemental affinity is lightning. I also have good chakra sense and well developed olfactory sense." Kakashi was quietly pleased with himself, he had basically no weaknesses, his defeat would require his opponent to simply be better than him in their chosen field, and prevent him from countering them, which was generally his specialty.

Coming up next, Asuma thought for a moment before answering, although his thoughts consisted mostly of how much he really wanted to smoke right now, though he could recognise the nervousness in his dad, this coupled with the fact he had not gotten his pipe out in a long while, even though he had ample time to do so, told Asuma that smoking would not be wise right now, but he still _really_ wanted a smoke, it had been hours since his last. With a sigh as he felt the box of cigarettes in his pocket, Asuma began. "My main strength is Taijutsu, I have excellent speed and technique. My main elemental affinity is wind, which I couple with my knifes to supplement my Taijutsu technique. Though my knowledge of Nin and Genjutsu is fairly limited, I know a fair amount and my ability to cancel Genjutsu is good. My chakra sense is good and I am known as a strategic fighter." Asuma quietly thanked his relationship with Kurenai, her unfathomable mastery of Genjutsu had been the source of his competence in resisting their effects or countering them. Looking over to Kurenai, he winked at her, trying to lighten to mood.

Kurenai was sombre at the moment. Her ability to sense chakra was second to none amongst the leaf village, it was this finely tuned ability which was the source of her current apprehension because she couldn't sense _anything_ from Sesshoumaru. Not only that but the Chakra which she sensed from Naruto was unlike anything she had felt before, it gave her the vague impression of a hunter and her spine was tingling because of it. It didn't help that Naruto had been staring directly at her eyes for over a minute now, she felt a small amount of pride that she had been able to ignore him. She supposed he was fascinated by her eyes, they were rather unique, having no pupil at all. Normally Kurenai wouldn't bother ignoring Naruto, and would meet his gaze, likely making him look away first, as her eyes could be quite unnerving, however she didn't want to risk annoying Sesshoumaru, so it was eyes front.

Taking a moment to compose her strengths and weaknesses Kurenai began to answer. "My main strength is Genjutsu, I am probably the top Genjutsu user in the village, my Ninjutsu are primarily long-range assassination type and my Taijutsu relies on Genjutsu to be effective. My ability to sense Chakra is also probably the best in the village." Here Kurenai resisted the urge to look at Naruto. "My main elemental affinity is water. I also have highly developed skills in stealth." Kurenai knew in an outright fight she was the weakest here, however barring Kakashi and his Sharingan, she could probably defeat everyone here in a true Ninja battle, for she was a Mistress of stealth and Genjutsu. They would be defeated before they could counterattack. However if they did counterattack, that's where it all fell apart.

After Kurenai came Anko. She had been passing her time idly watching Naruto stare at Kurenai, or watching Kurenai pointedly ignore him, it was fun. But she was not so engrossed that she missed when her turn to answer came up. "Ah, my speciality is Taijutsu and summoning Ninjutsu, I can summon snakes up to mid-level. I specialize in assassination techniques such as stealth, cloaking Genjutsu and long range attacks. I'm also one of the best marks in Konoha." Anko puffed her already rather prominent chest out at that, she was proud of her proficiency with Kunai, though at the highest level of combat, throwing Kunai tended to be merely a defence or distraction, she could still use them as a form of attack, something few could boast.

Next up came Hayate, he had been silently contemplating the entire situation, currently he didn't know what was going on, or what to do about it other than as he was told. This led slightly to frustration, but as a good Ninja, he suppressed his frustration, emotions such as frustration have no place in a professional situation. He had already thought about what to say in response to the question at hand. "I am a Kenjutsu specialist, my Taijutsu is also good. My speed and chakra sensing abilities are also high and I have an affinity for Earth manipulation."

Sesshoumaru considered their abilities for a moment. He would like a combat intensive teacher, however they were obviously all competent as far as combat went, and would be able to handle situations Naruto wouldn't, and by the time he could he would have moved on. So that line of questioning seemed rather pointless now, the only thing he learned was that he didn't really want the Illusionist as Naruto's tutor. Though many fox Youkai were proficient with Illusions, he had taken this time as they answered to analyse his knowledge of the beast from which Naruto's powers came, and there was no trickery, no illusion, just bloodlust and power, lots of power. Whilst he may yet develop an affinity for illusions, the fact that his, hmm, his 'benefactor' seemed to not possess one, and the fact that Sesshoumaru was completely disinterested in any illusory ability he may develop, meant that s he was of little use that the others could not perform better. Also he had noticed Naruto's attention, whilst the source of this attention did not concern him, it may make her teaching him hard, since he could smell that she was getting unnerved by Naruto's attention.

Next he decided he would weed out anyone who might coddle their students. "Which of you is most fond of battle."

Anko immediately perked up, after looking at the others quickly she raised her hand, in a rather childish gesture and bounced once or twice on her tiptoes. "Ooh, me, me."

Sesshoumaru looked towards Anko and raised an eyebrow, he could tell much of her cheer was false, probably due to the tenseness of the situation he had placed them in. That was intriguing, from what he could tell Naruto had similar tendencies, though he was unsure of whether it would be good to pair them together or bad, from that point of view, it was still interesting.

Resuming his gaze on the window, Sesshoumaru continued. "Which of you will be most likely to put your students in dangerous situations?"

Kakashi first looked over at the others and shook his head. Whilst to himself he would admit that his motives were less than admirable, the effect was the same. He was generally too lazy to get into battle scenario's unless it was important, which it wouldn't be for Genin.

Asuma too looked across and shook his head. He was generally fond of children, and he wouldn't be able to stomach having them in dangerous situations, especially since he was guessing, correctly, that Sesshoumaru's definition of dangerous was likely much worse than his own.

Kurenai immediately shook her head, this was her first time at being a Sensei and she was planning more to train her students rigorously for a while rather than do dangerous missions, perhaps dangerous missions later, but she figured she wouldn't be able to compete with Anko. Anko being her close friend she predicted she would be far more, well, reckless.

Anko watched everyone shake their heads, she looked to Gekkou and he shook his head too, so it was obviously her. Not that she minded, she herself had been taught through baptism of fire, as it were. Whilst she thoroughly hated her mentor he had been a very competent teacher whilst he was still interested in her tutelage, and it paid off since she was one of the village's top Ninja. But anyway, she raised her hand again, though with less enthusiasm. "Me again."

Sesshoumaru decided that whatever the effect of her personality and Naruto's complementing or clashing, it mattered little. If they complemented, that was nice, if not then maybe she would leave Naruto to himself during battles more than she would otherwise, which was also good. It mattered most that she would be the most likely to put him _into_ those battle situations, for that is where his strength would grow the most. But of course there are problems, always problems. Sesshoumaru was not so forgetful that he did not remember who had killed his Ward, it was Ninja of this village. As such he must ascertain that whomever he choose bear no such hostilities.

"Do any of you bear ill will towards my ward?" For the first time in a while, Naruto looked away from Kurenai's eyes, they had reminded him of something, their deepness combined with their familiar shade of red, though he found it impossible to place no matter how hard he tried. However his attention was quickly grabbed by Sesshoumaru's latest question, he had never met these people, why would they feel hostility towards him? Though he had never met the people who murdered him, well, except for Mizuki, he had been there at the clearing. But Mizuki was so nice to him. Anyway, if those random people could hate him, then it stood to reason anyone could. It was a rather depressing thought.

Kakashi knew he should be first to answer, though he was a little nervous. Truth be told he didn't much like Naruto. Other than his obvious disrespect, in general, Kakashi couldn't get the similarities between Naruto and his sensei out of his head whenever he saw them. This led Kakashi to think that perhaps Naruto had stolen his Sensei's soul, or part of it, or something like that. Which in turn led to resentment. Kakashi was no fool however, he knew this was not the case. But it is often the case that what the mind knows the heart chooses to ignore, and so even with this knowledge he still found himself resenting the boy, not actively but whenever he would see him, he would try his best _not_ to see him. It also didn't help matters that Naruto often acted in ways similar to his fallen team mate Obito, whose eye he now possessed. Naruto represented too many memories to Kakashi, even though Naruto himself had nothing to do with them. Kakashi was aware that Sesshoumaru had said he would discover their lies, however Kakashi was a Jounin, an expert in deceit, not to mention his feelings didn't necessarily constitute ill will, just avoidance more than anything. So he chose to risk it. "Nope."

Sesshoumaru did not make any outward reaction, though he immediately smelt the lie within the air, though it was not as strong as normal. Perhaps only a partial lie? It did not matter, Sesshoumaru would not tolerate liars. Perhaps now would be a good time for that lesson he had promised Naruto, the ability to scent out lies would indeed be possibly the most valuable ability Naruto would ever have. Assuming of course he was actually capable of it, the sensitivity required of one's nose to scent such minute details was enormous, Inuyasha himself was apparently unable to do so, though it remained to be seen whether that was truly the case or if it just seemed that way.

Next up was Asuma, his answer was straight forward, he liked kids, Naruto was just a kid, simple as. "Nope." He still _really_ wanted a smoke though, there was mild resentment in general because of that, but that wasn't the question here.

Kurenai was next, a lot of her family had actually died in the Kyuubi's attack, however she knew that the boy in front of her was no demon. Well actually he didn't used to be a demon, now apparently he was, however he was anything from demonic. Even with the rather unnerving attention he had been paying to her eyes, which was thankfully gone now, he was just a kid. "No."

Anko was next, she didn't really know much about the Kyuubi attack, being the youngest of the group, she had been in rehabilitation at the time as Orochimaru's defection had been only a year or so before the event, and the mark on her neck had been causing her severe problems during that time, not to mention that the council wanted to make absolutely sure she wasn't a spy Orochimaru had left behind. _Duh_ as if he'd make it that obvious, he was a genius, evil or not. As side from that she knew, though to a far lesser extent, what it was to be hated or resented due to the actions of others, her association with Orochimaru, and her continuing association with snakes had brought some ill favour amongst the villagers, however the Ninja population had been supportive of her afterwards. As such, she knew that no demon would put up with what he had, simply because no demon would have to, it would simply kill them in retaliation. The sad fact is that the proof that he was a child was not that he was nice, or caring, or whatever, but that he had been killed for being a demon, for even if he were biding his time to get his revenge against the village, as a demon, especially as the Kyuubi, he would not die to keep his cover. "Nope." She responded, rather too chirpily for the sombre mood.

Gekkou Hayate was next. He almost reflexively coughed before his answer, though he had been holding back on his habit of faking illness, since the coughs would likely be annoying in such a quiet environment, especially if Sesshoumaru had advanced hearing, as he suspected. Even so, it was such an ingrained habit that he had to concentrate to _not_ cough, even though he was currently of perfect health. His answer was also simple, much the same as Anko, even though he had been wary of Naruto, out of genuine fear. He had never been mean or nasty, he was simply wary. However logic dictated that no living creature would die if it were capable of _not_ dieing, and if he were truly of any threat, and as such truly the Kyuubi or possessing of its powers, he would not have died. Of course Jinchuuriki are known for being able to wield the powers of their demon, and as such a lengthy debate could be brought forward concerning the fine line between the host and the demon, however that was completely irrelevant now as there _was_ no Demon. So without his reflexive cough, he too answered. "No."

Taking a moment to consider how he would use the man with different eyes as the subject for his lesson, Sesshoumaru stared out of the window still, seemingly having not heard a word that was said. Finally he decided he would use the same question, as a meant of gauging Naruto's olfactory abilities. If there was no success he could move directly on to blatant lies. "Naruto, go and stand in front of the silver haired one."

Naruto looked up at Sesshoumaru again, he had been intently watching as each person answered, though he couldn't necessarily tell, they all seemed genuine, which filled Naruto with hope, however why was he supposed to stand in front of the silver haired one. For that matter, did any of them have silver hair? He hadn't bothered checking. Naruto looked around and saw the man on the end was the only one who fit that description. Said man was now looking at Naruto himself in confusion, which was fair as everyone else was either looking at Naruto or Sesshoumaru in confusion. Sesshoumaru however was ignoring them all, even Naruto. So Naruto just went over and stood in front of Kakashi, awaiting instructions.

Once Sesshoumaru was happy with Naruto's position, he continued. "Now, take in his scent, be thorough and memorise it well." Naruto stared at him for a moment before awkwardly turning around and looking up at Kakashi. Kakashi looked down at Naruto with a rather befuddled expression and shrugged, hoping to get this all over with. Naruto did indeed take that as an okay, and proceeded to take heavy sniffs through his nose. Once he was confident that he had memorised Kakashi's scent he turned around back to Sesshoumaru.

"Okay, I got it." Sesshoumaru turned around now and faced Kakashi. Then looked down at Naruto. "Continue to monitor his scent, be aware of any changes. Naruto looked perplexed but Sesshoumaru paid him no mind and looked Kakashi directly in the eyes. "Now, human. Do you bear my Ward any ill will?"

Kakashi's face paled, though it was hard to tell since his face was mostly covered. Naruto had resumed sniffing periodically, as if expecting something. Kakashi had an idea of what he was expected to pick up. Sesshoumaru had evidently picked up his mis-truth, and seemed to be using Kakashi as a guinea pig for a lesson. Now normally Kakashi would just own up and try to cut his losses, rather than dig a hole. However in this situation it seemed he was expected to repeat his previous answer. Glancing down at Naruto, hoping to convey his answer was more for Naruto's benefit than anything else, he looked back at Sesshoumaru and answered rather awkwardly. Uh… No?"

Sesshoumaru seemed satisfied, his scent had changed as it had before, just as expected. The human also seemed to realise he had been caught and that he was now merely the subject for Sesshoumaru's lesson. Clever indeed but his intelligence was obviously not that great, for he had been warned that lies would be found out. Naruto turned to Sesshoumaru, a puzzled expression on his face. "I think I got it, it smells different." Sesshoumaru was silently pleased, his olfactory senses appeared to be of excellent ability, this would serve him well on his quest for strength in not only survival, but by being able to avoid the pittling machinations of the humans around him.

Glancing once more at Kakashi, purely for effect, Sesshoumaru looked back at Naruto and nodded slightly. "Very good. Remember that scent well, for that is the scent of deception. Living amongst professional deceivers, your survival may depend upon your knowledge of that scent." Turning abruptly to face the Hokage, who was currently staring rather intently at Kakashi, he announced. "We are done here. This Sesshoumaru has selected the one with purple hair." Sesshoumaru hadn't actually forgotten her name, however he felt he should refer to her in a manner reflecting her status in comparison to his own, it would not do for these humans to get uppity, or to develop expectations of him. He had observed that being on a name basis was often a precursor to expectations. He had seen it in his brother, his use of the female's name had caused her to begin expecting things from him, with no reward, as if his use of her name entitled her to his service.

Sarutobi reacted immediately, removing his gaze from Kakashi. "Ah, a fine choice." Though his words were true, he said them more for Anko's benefit than anything else. "Well then, you are all dismissed. Kakashi?" Not having given Kakashi time to disappear as he is often want to do. "You will come see me in my office, we have much to discuss." Kakashi nodded, already knowing what this was about, currently thanking his luck that his punishment was merely being used as a teaching aid rather than anything violent. Once he was sure that was everything, then Kakashi poofed out of existence.

Once Kakashi, the last remaining of the Jounin had poofed from existence Sarutobi turned to Sesshoumaru. "Right, well is there anything else?"

Sesshoumaru turned to Sarutobi and paused for a moment. Truly he could not think of anything else, earlier he had entertained the idea of allowing them to repair his robes, though as he had come in contact with the residents of the village he grew averse to that idea, the hole would repair over time as long as he supplied some Youki to fuel the growth, and he would rather not have such degenerate humans touch his robes. He was happy with the situation he was to leave Naruto in. Truly he could've arranged better for Naruto's development in terms of skill, however that was not his purpose, if for example he had chosen the swordsman, Naruto's efforts would go into the use of a sword and not as much effort would be put into gaining strength and increasing his Youki. Even though Naruto might perhaps come into ownership of a demonic blade, an external source of power, and skill in the art of the blade would then become useful, it would still then not help his own strength, and as such that scenario had been avoided. He was also sure that Naruto was aware of the identity of the third of his assailants but seeing his actions with relation to that man would also serve to inform Sesshoumaru of Naruto's progress, more specifically how far he will follow his Youkai instincts in comparison to his human personality, which clearly does not favour murder. In fact, all that could really be accomplished within the village now was letting Naruto get more attached to him, which would be a bad thing. Naruto should feel loyalty and responsibility but not attachment, that would be inappropriate and useless since Sesshoumaru would no doubt return to his own lands in time. "That will be all Elder." Turning to Naruto Sesshoumaru spoke his last. "You will grow strong." And with that Sesshoumaru transformed into a bright orb of white light, and disappeared through the ceiling.

Sarutobi was quite surprised. When Sesshoumaru had said that would be all he was about to broach the subject of the village council, but Sesshoumaru had just up and vanished. Seemingly content that everything was arranged. He would no doubt return at intervals to check up on Naruto's progress, or to murder Sarutobi himself if things were not satisfactory. _'Joy'_ Sarutobi turned to Naruto, who was now staring at the ceiling with a rather shell-shocked expression. His own expression softened as he went forwards and crouched down in front of Naruto. Placing his hand on Naruto's shoulder, partly as comfort and partly to garner his attention. Which was captured upon contact. "Don't worry Naruto. Sesshoumaru is a _Lord_ after all, he is probably busy, but I'm sure he will be back soon to check on your progress." Sarutobi gauged his reaction, he still looked distraught. "How would you like to stay at mine for a while, Naruto?" Naruto didn't react, seemingly confused at the out of the blue question. Sarutobi pressed on. "You know, that Ramen stand is on the way to my house from here, and I think they're still open."

Naruto's eyes lit up, ramen was definitely his favourite and he had just _died,_ he would definitely need some ramen to recover, demon powers or not. "Yes Old man! Let's go quickly!" Sarutobi smiled as he stood up and allowed himself to be dragged along by Naruto in his zeal to reach the stand. He took this enthusiasm as a sign that Naruto was still Naruto and that this experience had not caused him too much grief that he would be affected beyond his ability to recover.

Sarutobi thought over the events of the day, Naruto was a person Sarutobi trusted. If not for the fact that Sesshoumaru had said Naruto was murdered in Naruto's own presence, he would've been less inclined to believe him. As it were, if Naruto was there and did not protest to this assertion then it gave credence to that man, err, Demon's words. Not to mention that later Naruto was seemingly capable of displaying olfactory senses on such a level that they were brushing the boundaries of science. Sure, a lie has an effect on a person's heart-rate, perhaps perspiration to the palms, these types of things. But to get a seemingly identifiable scent from someone's act of lying. Truly remarkable, and he could not help but agree with Sesshoumaru's statement that it may very well keep Naruto from being tangled within the Machinations of the humans that surrounded him.

What worried Sarutobi the most though was the way in which Naruto had killed the man. Clearly if the Kyuubi was now gone then Naruto had not been possessed so much as taken over by his own instincts and emotions, though he had maintained composure which surely meant that he had not been lost to his emotions or his instincts, it was still worrying the precision with which Naruto had acted.

As they exited the Hokage tower and set off down the road, Naruto somehow knowing the correct direction without prompting from Sarutobi, he began to think upon Sesshoumaru himself. Truly it seemed he was capable of fighting at the level of the greatest Shinobi, but it had yet to be seen if ye was capable of anything more than that. His whip attack seemed to be very flexible, but it was based upon string, perhaps similar in some respects to Chakra strings. Sarutobi hypothesized that long-ranged attacks which drew the attention of the whip, would leave him exposed to long-range attacks from opposite sides. Not to mention sneak attacks through the ground seemed tactically advantageous. At first Sarutobi had been considering the use of the Shiki Fuuin, however he did indeed believe Sesshoumaru in that the technique would be ineffectual. Only Jiraiya and Sarutobi himself were ever told by the Yondaime how the process worked before he used it, however Sesshoumaru seemed to know. That alone meant that he had somehow gotten this information from the third source, which meant he was not lying. After that Sarutobi had begun thinking of tactics to use against Sesshoumaru. However with the displays of great sensory ability, coupled with that remarkable travelling ability gave Sarutobi pause. Surely he and his Ninja could chase Sesshoumaru away should it come to it, however it would come at great cost to their side. He also doubted any form of sneak attack would have any effect on Sesshoumaru, he also doubted the use of Genjutsu as even Kurenai was incapable of completely incapacitating more than one sense at a time and even if they were successful in capturing him within a Genjutsu he had four for them to contend with, for Sarutobi assumed Sesshoumaru's ability to sense Chakra or Youki was similarly acute and it would not do to be underestimating him. That left tactically controlling the battle through strategic location and numbers, even in the best case scenario whoever drew the attention of Sesshoumaru's whip was still almost assuredly dead.

But then of course on a more philosophical note it seemed quite fitting. It was just as Sesshoumaru had said, the village had stolen Naruto's life and sacrificed it to make him the container of the Kyuubi. He would face trials such as reigning in the Kyuubi itself, keeping away those who would seek its power and the village decided to thank him for participating in their salvation by scorning him so thoroughly. Then the culmination of their hate; his own Ninja had murdered Naruto. Now the Kyuubi was gone and their village was under threat from a new Demon except this time, they had to be nice to Naruto the way they should have been anyway, lest this demon attack their village. Perhaps they could drive him off, but he would heal and come back, each time as tenacious and ruthless as the last until their numbers were too few and they could no longer drive him back.

Sarutobi had truly been hoping he could get Sesshoumaru to 'take care' of the bad elements on the council, however it seemed that would not be possible, at least until he returned. Until then at least Sarutobi would have to adopt a more firm and less forgiving stance against them, not just for his own sake, or for Konoha but for Naruto too.

When they finally did reach the Ramen stand Naruto took them right to the stools but paused before sitting down. Sarutobi easily guessed why, Naruto barely uttered an 'um...' before Sarutobi had cut in. "Don't worry Naruto, my treat."

Naruto was instantly happy. "All right! Old man! Three miso ramen please!" The stand had been close to closing, Naruto had been just in his haste, luckily he knew the way to the Ichiraku ramen stand from anywhere in Konoha, even though it seemed he could now pick out the scent of the ramen they made here from at least as far as the Hokage tower. But it didn't matter, he was getting free ramen.

Earlier, when Sesshoumaru had abruptly left, he felt a melancholy overcome him, it would seem they would not be becoming friends any time soon. But Naruto held out hope, the old man (Hokage) was right, he would be back and Naruto would definitely be _kick ass_ by then! Plus everyone would hopefully be nice to Naruto now, he wasn't entirely sure yet what it was, but _something_ had apparently been in his belly from birth and people hated him for it. That _sucked_ but it was gone now! So they had no reason to hate him. Of course even Naruto knew that things weren't always that straight forward, but they would have to acknowledge him now, no … _thing_ and he would be _kick ass_! Even if Lord Sesshoumaru wasn't his friend, he had still acknowledged him, he had _resurrected_ him, so that definitely counted. Naruto's thoughts didn't pass over the fact that he had killed a man earlier. That event seemed to have been more closure than something new and distressing to think about.

Naruto contentedly enjoyed his Ramen, which was bought for him by the Hokage. He spent the rest of the night until he went to bed pestering the old man with theories of how cool his powers might be, how strong he might become and how _kick ass_ he was going to be. He was obviously going to be able to do the whip thing and the glowy orb travelling thing, definitely, and he would find a cool sword like Lord Sesshoumaru's and he would save at least one princess and defeat many bad guys and… Well he had plenty of time and plenty of ideas. Throughout what for most people would have become boring and quickly annoying the Hokage's smile remained, even though Naruto wouldn't have noticed if it had not. His smile didn't remain because of the tales Naruto was weaving for his future, but because such boisterous antics were a good omen, Naruto was still Naruto and that was definitely something to be pleased about.

---)(---

Sesshoumaru arrived at the site of his entrance to this world, or region, or wherever he was, though certainly not an area of his own world. He had decided it would be best to investigate how he came to be here so he would know more about how to go about returning. As he entered the clearing in which he had recuperated he felt Tenseiga pulse at his hip. Taking a moment he decided it was at least worth investigating. He was still contemplating whether to be thankful to Tenseiga for prompting him to resurrect his new Ward. His thankfulness would hinge upon the outcome of his experiment. If Naruto manages to gain strength in a way a full blooded Youkai cannot then it would stand to reason that Inuyasha would also be capable as such. If this were to be the case Inuyasha would not be as pathetic as it first seemed, perhaps not a disgrace to their family name and their powerful blood.

Of course it is entirely possible that Naruto would prove Sesshoumaru's assumptions about Inuyasha correct and that Inuyasha's defeat of him was due to the interference of Tessaiga, their father's fang of destruction. In this scenario Tenseiga just wasted a day and much hassle. Even though the entire process had been rather annoying, he supposed it was not too much a price to pay to be sure. Whether he liked his brother or not, he would have disrespected him unjustly all the times he had claimed Inuyasha as weak, where it would be possible Inuyasha was merely still growing. Sesshoumaru was nothing if not honourable and it would not do to have such a stain upon his honour. He also admitted that if Inuyasha's weakness were proven to be temporary, there would be no need for Sesshoumaru to prove his superiority and he would be able to go about repairing his left arm with no damage to his pride.

As Sesshoumaru touched the hilt of Tenseiga he looked around, expecting to see or sense some ghostly figure or other, though he sensed none. Pulling Tenseiga from it's sheath Sesshoumaru again looked around, this time expecting a more defined apparition of some sort, still nothing. Growing agitated Sesshoumaru was about to replace Tenseiga before continuing with his prior intentions however Tenseiga pulsed faintly with energy which somehow gave Sesshoumaru the distinct impression of _up_. Humouring his blade he looked up and saw an eerie grey hole within the sky not far above the tree line, a portal seemingly less stable but reminiscent of that which had transported him to his father's grave. Sesshoumaru grew angry as he deduced it was likely that Tenseiga had brought him here. Stabbing Tenseiga into the ground and releasing the hilt he again looked up, nothing. His suspicions confirmed Sesshoumaru retrieved Tenseiga. Before he travelled through the portal however Sesshoumaru had to make sure, it would not do for him to have expended such effort to obtain knowledge for him to be cut off from his answers in an entirely different realm. Looking again to Tenseiga he decided it worth questioning. "Blade, are you capable of returning this Sesshoumaru to this place?" Tenseiga pulsed with energy, seeming almost eager. Sesshoumaru growled, either he was being manipulated by his own sword, or this was somehow one of his father's contrived plots to make Sesshoumaru accept humans as anything other than disgusting, petty and worthless. Sesshoumaru was _not_ amused. Retaining Tessaiga firmly within his grasp, Sesshoumaru created a cloud of Youki beneath himself and leisurely floated towards the portal.

---)(---

Once on the other side of the portal Sesshoumaru was again just above the canopy. Spying a dirt path not far from his position he headed there. Once down Sesshoumaru picked up the scent of Wolf Youkai, only hours old. He also picked up the older scent of humans, oxen and various human foods, obviously a trade route, Sesshoumaru detected the scent of human civilization, and death to the south east and decided he was completely disinterested in whatever troubles they may have, and as such set off towards the North West, towards his lands.

Not far into his journey Sesshoumaru smelt the scent of human death once again, along with the scent of more wolf Youkai. As he continued on he found the corpse of a young girl, no more than eight years old, partially eaten and sprawled out face down on the path. She had most likely fled the village when they were attacked. Sesshoumaru felt disgust towards the wolves, it was decidedly dishonourable to eat a child, no matter the race. Especially if for something other than hunger, as evidenced by the fact she was mostly in tact. Killing children for sport is something Sesshoumaru would never contemplate and his anger spiked at the thought.

As if reacting to his emotional reaction Tenseiga pulsed eagerly at his hip. Sesshoumaru growled and regarded the hilt of his blade, was it attempting to manipulate him again? The fact that he disliked the act of killing the young of any species did not mean he liked the young of any species, merely that he detested those with such utter lack of honour.

Sesshoumaru also questioned how Tenseiga planned to resurrect a human girl with such wounds. Naruto had not been healed of the stab wound to his back, his own Youkai abilities had seen to that, however Sesshoumaru did not witness any healing being done to his throat wound, which was unobstructed. He had assumed it was clean and the flesh easily re-attached by his Youki, perhaps that was not the case and Tenseiga had healed that wound.

Rationalising his actions as another test of Tenseiga's abilities Sesshoumaru pulled Tenseiga from its sheath and slashed at the small goblin's which had been taking her soul away.

Almost immediately the wounds covering the girl faded and she began to draw breath again. Sesshoumaru replaced Tenseiga and watched as she breathed, however not regaining consciousness.

This time Sesshoumaru decided there was no fascination to be had in the sufferings of someone so young, morbid fascination or otherwise. He knelt down and carefully pulled her into his lap, cradling her shoulders with his arm. She seemed to be waking up, although he smelt the scent of fear, as if she were afraid to wake up. Though he had acquired much more experience with humans this past day, he was still unsure of what to do. Deciding that she was being silly as there was nothing to fear anymore Sesshoumaru spoke, blunt as usual though adopting what he hoped to be a comforting tone. "Don't be silly." The girl stirred slightly. "Wake up."

The girl ever so slowly relaxed her facial muscles and opened her eyes to be greeted with the visage of Sesshoumaru, with a slight radiance due to the setting sun at this late time of day and with his dazzling golden eyes and moonlight white hair, she felt an angel had awoken her. She smiled brightly at Sesshoumaru letting out a small squeak of happiness, as children are want to do.

Sesshoumaru decided that somewhere, his father was most certainly laughing at him.

---)(---

The next day saw Gai's team bright and early at the Hokage tower. Sarutobi had arranged for Neji to pick Naruto up from his residence, handily close to the Hyuuga's own residential area, an hour or so from the time they had arrived, making it respectably early rather than crack of dawn. Even though Gai and his team were disheartened that they would be unable to undertake any 'youthful' C-rank missions for a while, he was comparably pleased because they now had more time to bask in 'the flames of their youth' together and train so that their youthful energy might explode. Mmm lovely. Sarutobi pondered upon the idea of sending Naruto as a tag-along with one of their missions, but decided not to bring it up lest Gai become enthusiastic about it, heaven forbid. He did however say that Gai's team should feel more than welcome to join Naruto and Neji in their training 'mission', he felt Naruto might enjoy Gai's enthusiasm, especially if he developed any of his abilities to show to him. Not to mention Lee (mini Gai) whose enthusiasm was on par with Gai's own. He felt it would be nice for Naruto to be complemented upon, well, everything he did, even if it might become traumatic after a while Naruto was tough, he'd cope.

Later, surprisingly early in the morning Kakashi came to his office. It was a simple conversation in which Kakashi tried to apologize and convey how it was more the reminder than anything else, which Sarutobi accepted. But Sarutobi also said that Kakashi owed Naruto his life, as did everyone else and he should put in more of an effort. Perhaps if he got to know Naruto then Naruto would remind him of _Naruto_ and not some bad memories he was trying to hide from. Kakashi left with a lot to think about.

---)(---

Later that day Neji and Naruto arrived in a random training grounds, consisting of a few logs, a patch of trees to one side and grass everywhere else. Naruto had been doing his best to act cool and composed and whatnot but he couldn't help but ask Neji about his eyes, he was promptly ignored, which left Naruto frustrated, though he tried to deal with it.

Neji stood in the centre of the clearing regarding Naruto for a moment, truthfully he was decidedly uncomfortable in this situation, there was an undue amount of pressure for such a simple task, and even then, while he definitely had all the required abilities to be in this position, he definitely did not have any knowledge of _teaching_, yet that is what he was there to do.

Deciding he would begin training Naruto with this 'Youki' stuff and whenever his team appeared, for they most certainly would appear at some point for something inane such as 'Cheering on' Neji's 'Youthful flames' or his 'Burning passion'. Neji sighed just thinking about it. But when they appeared he would be able to teach Naruto about emotions using them as guinea-pig's, for they would surely agree if Neji asked them to help Naruto train, well perhaps not Tenten but he would make do with the _beasts_. Neji shuddered mentally, truly they were beasts.

But back to the task at hand, Neji was certain Naruto had been channelling his Youki at the time he had executed his apparent murderer, not through use of his Byakuugan but because his eyes had turned blood red and if he was correct a slit replaced his normally round pupil. The Sesshoumaru guy had stated that his Youki was tied to his emotions, so getting Naruto angry or frustrated, though hopefully not into a bloodlust or a rage, would likely bring his Youki to the forefront, he would go from there based on feedback from Naruto. "Naruto, we shall begin."

Naruto had only just arrived in front of Neji and taken up a mimicking posture, not out of mockery but so that he would be prepared for whatever Neji had in store for him. "Right, Master Neji." He smiled and waited in anticipation.

Neji raised his eyebrow at the form of address but paid it no mind. "To begin, you shall channel your Youki." Neji subtly activated his Byakuugan and observed the flow of energies throughout Naruto. Currently nearly all his energy was located within what he assumed to be Youki pathways, though unlike the Chakra pathways he was unable to see the pathway, merely the energy within, but no matter, he would not be attacking Naruto.

Naruto's response was immediate. "What, but I don't know how." Neji ignored him, based on his observations, even though Naruto had been attempting to be cool and composed, likely to impress Sesshoumaru, he was naturally very emotional and unrestrained, Neji concluded that if he were to frustrate him and then ignore him, it would lead to angering him very efficiently. "Hey, you're supposed to be teaching me! What's with the weird veins around your eyes?" A pause. "Damnit! I can't just 'channel my Youki' because you say so!" A glare. "Hello? Answer me Damnit!" A more forceful glare. Naruto began to growl and was thinking seriously about attacking before Neji smirked and finally responded.

"Very good, you have begun to channel your Youki, now stretch your right hand out." Neji had observed as Naruto was unconsciously clenching his fists in anger that his right hand had been cocked back for attack whilst his left had been merely clenching, this meant Naruto was right handed, so it would be easiest to begin channelling energies there.

It was not to be however, almost as soon as Neji had spoken Naruto's anger was replaced with confusion. "Huh?" With the lack of anger his Youki stilled and returned back to its gentle flow within his, Neji decided he would name them his Youki paths, for it seemed to be where his Youki preferred to travel more than where it was stored within something, much like paths.

Neji sighed. This would take a while. "Naruto, when you became aggravated, did you feel a rush of energy?"

Naruto looked puzzled for a moment. "Um… not really."

Neji deactivated his Byakuugan and pinched the bridge of his nose with his index finger and thumb and tried to think of another way around this. It would definitely be a long day.

---)(---

After around 4 hours of trying Naruto became aware of the energy or Youki within his body and was able to move it around to an extent without having to be agitated. It had helped that as time progressed and Neji remained calm Naruto became more and more frustrated and easy to anger, as such his Youki had been more restless and easier to channel.

The next step, well the next step if Naruto were channelling Chakra would be to learn to expel it from his hands. Naruto had already learned this with Chakra a few years ago at the Academy but that training didn't seem to be helping much, though it was still early. Neji, having only knowledge of Chakra decided to follow those general steps and improvise where appropriate, as such the next step would be getting Naruto to be able to expel Youki from his hand.

"Naruto, now that you are aware of the energy within your body, hold your hand out and channel your energy towards your hand. Your goal is to expel some of your energy from your hand, I will watch with my Byakuugan to monitor your progress." Neji activated his Byakuugan again and began to watch as Naruto's Youki barely stirred within him. Absently he realised that this was also good training for himself as he had not used his Byakuugan so often in such a short amount of time. As he was not expending any Chakra or straining his eyes in any way the fatigue involved was minimal and he could likely continue for many more hours at such a pace, yet there was still fatigue and as such there would be improvement. Neji also noticed through the minor fluctuations in Naruto's facial muscles that Naruto was not only concentrating but also fighting against himself to stay calm as anger or aggression threatened to take hold in his mind. Neji decided that the next step would be channelling his Youki whilst in an environment which calmed him, helping to separate his emotions and the channelling of his Youki.

Naruto was trying, really really trying to get this to work. But it was surprisingly difficult. He could clearly remember his training with the use of Chakra and how simple it had been, in comparison anyway, to mentally grasp the energy, his chakra, and move it with his mind to his hand, where it seemed to flow easily from his hand. With this Youki stuff it seemed more like attempting to mentally take hold of his Anger, whilst not being angry, and move it around his body. Though he had come up with a rather nice description of the process the action itself was far from being so simple, there was no real sense of the energy within him, it felt like raw emotion rather than energy. Only through trial and error and extreme frustration had he managed to see the difference between his own anger and the Youki within him. Naruto had tried imagining having a really angry hand to see if the Youki would flow there. He had imagined a very calm hand to see if the Youki would go and fill up the empty spot, nothing had happened. He imagined the Youki going to his hand and forming a glowy whip thing with which he could attack stuff, nothing happened in that circumstance either.

After about an hour Neji had begun turning his Byakuugan off and only turning it on intermittently as a sort of progress check, though no progress was found as of yet. Neji began attempting to find a solution, Sesshoumaru had said he had his honour and his instincts, though Naruto had no experience with his instincts, perhaps the secret was buried within there. Deciding he couldn't think of a way to test his instincts yet he thought it might be fruitful to get Naruto to form different hand positions, perhaps the Youki required something similar to a hand-seal to flow correctly, or maybe there was just nothing useful it could do at Naruto's hands and so it didn't go. Or perhaps he just hadn't figured out how to channel his Youki yet. "Naruto." Naruto looked towards Neji, the concentration fading from his face as he forgot about channelling the Youki, though it was still stirring within him. "Make a different shape with your hand."

Naruto looked quizzically at Neji, he was doing it the way they had showed him at the Academy, what was wrong with that? But he decided to go with it. "What kind of shape?"

Neji thought for a moment before an idea struck him, perhaps Naruto's instincts would come in to play here. "Whatever feels comfortable, channel your Youki and change the position of your hand until you feel comfortable." It was a long shot, but from his short observations within the meeting theatre it seemed that his instincts were heightened as he channelled his Youki, so by channelling it and trying to find a good position for his hand he might instinctively find the secret they were lacking so far. Neji activated his Byakuugan to observe Naruto's progress with this new task.

Naruto was a little puzzled, what felt comfortable? His hand wasn't touching anything, unless he were to be bending it the wrong way, why wouldn't it be comfortable? But he gave it a go, concentrating on the vague feeling of anger within him, yet retaining his own calm, he began attempting to make the energy move towards his hand whilst he moved his hand around, after a while his hand felt a cool sensation as his fingers came close to being straight, going back to that he slowly straightened his fingers out so that his entire palm was flat and his fingers were flat beyond it, his thumb next to them. It was subtle at first but soon an orange glow began to emanate from his index and middle finger. Overjoyed and excited he went to show it to Neji, who was sitting slightly to his side.

Neji observed that as Naruto paused his hand movements and began straightening them out, his energy began to flow towards his hand, specifically his index and middle finger, with a little going towards his thumb, but that seemed to not be doing anything. They would investigate that later, for now he became rather worried. Neji guessed this to be an attack of some sort, in the hands of a boy who had no idea what he was doing. Neji saw the subtle movements within Naruto's lower torso, his right leg and his arm and realised Naruto was about to swing his arm towards himself, most likely to show him what he had done. Neji only briefly danced upon the fact that if Naruto had stopped to think about it he would realise Neji already knew more about what was happening than he himself did, however his focus was more on what he should do, as he feared some form of attack might come forth, he decided it best to simply avoid the arc of movement. Neji promptly jumped straight up into the air, an impressive distance for someone who had been sitting only moments earlier and just in the nick of time too as when Naruto's hand reached halfway through its arc the ball of energy quickly extended into a whip which flew swiftly through the area which Neji had previously occupied. Neji landed and watched as the whip of energy continued upon its course and slashed into Naruto's calf, quite deeply too.

Naruto had been so excited he had completely forgotten that this was just like the whip-attack Lord Sesshoumaru had used earlier, and that he might inadvertently attack Neji with it if he were not careful, since it was a long-range attack. As he turned he felt a tingling and realised more energy was going towards the light, as if it were being sucked to serve some purpose or other. His focus was then changed as he noticed Neji very swiftly jump high into the air, however his focus was not so taken that he did not notice the whip-like energy formation which extended from his hand, which was still in its original position even though he had ignored it momentarily and usually his hands reflexively went slightly bent as standard, though his attention was quickly taken by the fact that the whip of energy was now quickly circling around in an arc with the momentum his arm had given it and was fast approaching himself. He tried to dodge and use his arm to whip the energy away, as well as cancel the Youki flowing to it, all at the same time. He managed none of the above as the energy easily entered the flesh of his calf, going half-way to the bone before disappearing as the pain disrupted the flow of his Youki.

Neji quickly analysed the situation and calmed down immediately once he realised that the flow of blood from the wound was already slowing to a stop. Blood from wounds on the legs tended to flow very freely, especially if deep enough to reach a major vein, as much lymph fluid was stored there and moved back into the upper body through the contractions of skeletal muscles. Since Naruto hadn't been using his legs to do more than stand for many hours, there was plenty of blood in his calf to flow out. Most of which flowed out within the first second or two before the blood in the veins above the wound seemed to somehow hold the blood in place rather than let it flow out. Within minutes the wound was healed and all that was left was a slash in his trousers with a wet red patch flowing to the bottom and spreading out along the ground. Neji also noticed something of interest, the Whip of energy stopped exactly at the point where the Youki was concentrated within his calf, which he deduced meant that as it was made of Naruto's Youki, it could not cut through itself. Neji decided they would work on Naruto channelling Youki throughout his entire body before they continued working with the whip, so that he would be protected from any mishaps that came along.

Naruto of course had not been standing idly by as his leg bled out and then quickly healed, he had immediately dropped to the floor and screamed at the same time, however his impact with the floor jarred the side of his ribs and produced a rather unique gurgling sound as he continued his attempt at vocal release, in such a situation however the humour was completely lost. Luckily only seconds passed until the pain from the wound was numbed to a dull ache and only a minute until the wound was completely healed. Once the ache was gone Naruto disengaged his gaze from the patch of flesh he could see through his trousers and let go of the morbid fascination that came from watching your own flesh stick itself back together, taking note of the slight orange glow that was emitted from the wound, presumably the energy fuelling the healing process. Turning from his position on the floor to look up at Neji, Naruto put his feelings on the matter out there for Neji to hear. "Ow…"

---)(---

Unlike Naruto's surprising speed in discovering his whip ability it took just over a week to channel his Youki from his paths to his entire body. During this time Naruto had emitted a hazy sort of mist, which was very hot, from his hands. He had also accidentally created a mildly cloud-like formation beneath his feet which had caused him to fall over onto his face. This had also led to the discovery that his unusually shaped nails were actually rather sharp, even with only the tiniest amount of Youki in them they were able to cut through wood with ease. Unfortunately for Naruto Neji had insisted he not attempt to discover what any of these potential abilities were until he had completed the exercise, his reasoning however was sound and always made Naruto grudgingly agree to wait when he found a new ability. Neji's reasoning was thus: if one of these abilities were to backfire, such as the whip did, as he was sure his Youki would protect him from his own attacks, until he had completed this exercise it would not be safe for him to attempt anything lest he have to find out exactly how much he could regenerate.

Neji left out the fact that it would also be dangerous for him, and that in waiting until Naruto's grasp of his Youki was greater he decreased his own risk as well, though it would likely be a more effective method of calming Naruto, it would also be a dent to Neji's pride to admit such a thing. After the first day Neji had begun working on a chakra exercise of his own design which if his plans came to fruition would lead to a remarkable defence technique. He did this because it required the Byakuugan, as such he could train and monitor Naruto with his eye technique. The Byakuugan was required for the exercise because he was attempting to channel chakra throughout his body from each opening, being able to see each opening with the vision granted him through the Byakuugan made this possible, as doing so through feel alone would be monumentally more difficult. In an exercise where his already precise control was pushed to the limit, it was unlikely that without the Byakuugan it would actually be possible to perform it. He was not decided but if he succeeded his first thoughts were to name this technique the Kaiten, standing for the Whirl.

Neji had also had Naruto attempt to perform the Henge, probably the most useful and basic technique possible, by forming his hands into the hand-seal of the Ram and channelling his Youki through it whilst imagining the image he would take. There was no success, all that had happened is that Naruto's Youki had significantly sharpened his nails, which he now referred to as claws as it was far more cool, and had received several rather deep stab wounds from them due to the position of his fingers in the Ram seal.

It was not until near the end of the second week of Naruto's training that Gai and the rest of Neji's team Tenten and Lee paid them a visit.

When they arrived Naruto was concentrating rather hard and was making twirly motions in front of him with his left hand, this ordinarily would look quite foolish, however directly in front of him, attached to his index finger, his middle finger and his thumb was a rather long strand of glowing dark orange energy which was actually moving quite differently to how it should based upon Naruto's hand motions.

Neji looked to be completely ignoring Naruto and spinning on the spot, looking rather worn out, though with his Byakuugan active it would be impossible to ignore Naruto as it granted him 360 degree vision for a much larger radius than the distance Naruto was away from him.

Gai immediately announced his presence. "Neji! Naruto! I am impressed by your youthful efforts! Truly the fire of your youths burns strongly."

In reaction to this, Neji began spinning and releasing chakra again, completely ignoring Gai whilst Naruto's whip spazmed erratically before twisting around and making a deep gash into Naruto's shoulder. It would've been his head had he not dodged, that would've sucked.

Lee had been about to join in Gai's enthusiasm when Naruto abruptly injured himself. Immediately his concern for his youthful comrade came to the forefront and he rushed at top speed to Naruto's side, Gai in hot pursuit and Tenten rather stunned at the entire affair. Neji calmly walked over to where Naruto was lying on the floor in pain, desperately trying to ignore the two green beasts as they fussed fanatically over his wound. "Master Gai, please step back, Naruto is in no danger." Gai hesitated but did as Neji asked. Lee seemed oblivious so Neji just grabbed him by the arm and pulled him away. He looked at Naruto's wound and thought for a moment. "Naruto, channel some Youki to your wound." After a brief pause Naruto did just that and his wound began to hiss slightly and emit steam and his flesh closed at a much increased rate even compared to the usually rapid regeneration he sported. "Interesting, channelling your Youki there significantly improved your healing abilities, remember this Naruto."

Naruto, who was now in no pain as his wound had healed looked at Neji from trying to stare at his shoulder, which had been failing and just leaving him with pain in his neck from trying, though that went away soon too. Naruto merely nodded at Neji and stood up then turned to face the new arrivals.

Gai was not entirely shocked, though still surprised, since he at least knew of Naruto's current status as a Hanyou. Lee and Tenten however were speechless, never in their lives had they seen something like the whip Naruto had been practicing with but never in their dreams had they thought of someone being able to heal so fast. Neji quietly enjoyed the silence in the presence of Gai and Lee, perhaps teaching Naruto wasn't so bad after all, this was definitely a bonus. Though it was not to last as Naruto reacted quite loudly. "OH MY GOD YOUR EYEBROWS ARE ALIVE!"

Whilst Naruto's statement lacked truth, there was still reason behind it. Both Gai and his student Lee, who looked almost exactly the same except for Lee being of a much younger age and as such not nearly as big, had rather proportionally… enormous eyebrows. They were bushy and somewhat resembled those rare and horribly poisonous caterpillars, though they moved around less. But they still moved. **Shudder**.

Gai completely ignored the comment whilst Lee missed it entirely as he was still stuck on how fast Naruto healed. If he were to be truly honest with himself he was jealous of that ability. Such ability would aid him no end in his pursuit of strength and his goal to become a Ninja without the use of chakra, for he was unable to use it.

Gai recovered rather quickly and struck a pose, feet shoulder width apart, one hand on his hips in a fist and the other straight forward with his thumb up and an enormous grin which reflected more light than seemed to be naturally present to reflect. "Naruto! Your youthful flames rekindle extraordinarily! With hard work your youthful flames could _explode_!"

Immediately Lee forgot about his jealousy and his shock and turned to Gai, flames in his eyes. "OOOOH Master Gai! Yes! And if Naruto cannot do it, I shall run 400 laps around Konoha so that I may explode for both of us!"

Gai immediately turned to Lee, tears (of joy?) flowing down his face, his smile still firmly in place. "AH LEE! And if you cannot do that then I shall run 600 laps, with you on my back!"

Lee jumped at Gai and hugged him tightly, Gai immediately reciprocated. "Master Gai!"

"Lee!"

"Master Gai!" Naruto's vision finally moved from the horrifying scene to see Tenten and Neji conversing calmly some distance away, as if there were nothing wrong with this scene, as if their conscious mind wasn't only so close to melting from overload, unwillingly Naruto turned back to the scene. It was like a car crash, you just had to look. What he saw was something he would never fully manage to forget, no matter how he tried. Gai and Lee were still shouting each other's names loudly and without mercy and behind them, disregarding where the trees should be was a rather picturesque sunset.

Naruto whimpered and turned away, his mind blank with the horror. Neji and Tenten turned to Naruto when they heard him whimper and they immediately knew their error. Tenten rushed forward and enveloped Naruto in a hug. "Don't worry Naruto, its okay. They can't hurt you now." Naruto didn't respond immediately, though for a minute or so he shivered slightly, before he seemed to take in a deep breath and look around, as if waking up from a trance. Neji looked on impassively, he and Tenten had had no such luxury when they first experienced this monstrosity, though he was forced to admit Gai and Lee had started out small and worked up since the formation of their team, perhaps the shock of exposure to them at their highest level really was enough to break a man. Tenten immediately covered Naruto's eyes as he turned towards Gai and Lee, she then covered his ears with her wrists but Naruto's nose wrinkled and he said one of the most memorable things Tenten had ever heard. "Oh my god, they even _smell_ traumatic." Tenten giggled before turning Naruto away from Gai and Lee.

"Don't worry, they'll stop in ten minutes or so." She put her hand out in the standard hand-shake gesture. "My name's Tenten by the way." Naruto slowly took her hand, still slightly dazed. "Nice to meet you." Naruto nodded. Tenten gestured over to the two, though she quickly grabbed Naruto's shoulder to stop him turning toward Gai and Lee again. "That's Master Gai and Lee, they are a little… over enthusiastic sometimes." Naruto nodded numbly. "We're Neji's team mates." She smiled once again before letting go of Naruto's shoulder.

Naruto noticed that she somehow knew his name without having ever met him, though he just put it down to the Hokage having told her. "Oh right, does Master Neji have to go on a mission or something?" Naruto asked Tenten, mostly recovered now, and wondering why they were here. "No, we just came to see Neji and meet you. The Hokage suggested it two weeks ago but Master Gai has been too busy training me and Lee for us to come over."

Naruto nodded. "Oh." There wasn't really much more to say.

Tenten's smile faded and she continued looking at Naruto. "So Naruto, what was that whip thing you were doing?"

Naruto immediately smiled, this was totally sweet, someone new he could impress with how _kick ass_ he was becoming. The whip, for he hadn't come up with a better name for it yet, was _awesome_ and he would soon be able to _totally_ beat anyone with it. "That's my whip! It can cut through loads of stuff and I can make it bend even without waving it in a direction, and it can go really long! Though I'm still working on controlling it when it's longer."

Tenten seemed fascinated. "Wow, what kind of technique is that?"

Naruto immediately replied. "It's not really a technique, it's one of my abilities."

Tenten was puzzled for a moment, what did he mean by that? "What do you mean abilities?" Neji's head suddenly swivelled in their direction, he had previously been passing his time by using his Byakuugan to see a great distance rather than the standard 360 view, and was practicing controlling the distance he could see more effectively, however when he heard the turn the conversation had gone he was immediately on alert, he wasn't quite certain what the stance on passing out knowledge of Naruto's demonic heritage was, but he knew that knowledge of the Kyuubi was still taboo to those who didn't already know, and one generally led to another.

Naruto faltered momentarily, he too wasn't sure what the situation was but more than that he didn't want to go around telling people he was a Hanyou, he had been scorned and hated while he was still human, now that he wasn't entirely human it could get even worse. He looked over to Neji for some help, Neji seemed to understand as he stepped in. "It is a facet of his bloodline, I am training him to utilize it."

Naruto immediately caught on and tried to do some damage control. "That was it, bloodline. It's Awesome huh?" Tenten glanced at Neji before looking at Naruto and smiling.

"Yep, I'll bet you'll become really strong in no time, especially with Neji training you." That was Tenten's not so subtle way of complimenting Neji, trying to gain his favour. Even though he had the personality of a cardboard box, he was still rather dashing and Tenten harboured feelings for him. However she also knew of his skill with reading emotions so she chose her moments carefully, this time she was facing Naruto and not Neji, so it would be much more difficult for him to judge her emotions, or so she believed.

Naruto looked at her quizzically and then sniffed the air experimentally before turning to Neji. "Master Neji, what's made Tenten's scent change?" Tenten looked at Naruto sharply, not knowing what was going on but on some instinctual level knowing it was not good.

Neji turned towards the two, his face schooled into a bored expression and calmly replied to Naruto. "That is most likely the scent of attraction." He then turned away and continued his perusal of the main body of Konoha with his Byakuugan.

Tenten was shocked. He knew?! But if he knew and he hadn't acted, that means he wasn't interested. Tenten's head drooped and she slowly sank into depression. Naruto smelled the scent of depression too, though he had only ever smelt it on himself, from Sesshoumaru's comments at the time and Tenten's state now he deduced she was feeling depressed, though he couldn't quite understand why. Naruto turned from Tenten to Neji. "So does that mean you two are like, going out?" Neji's Byakuugan faded as he lost concentration, though there was no other outward sign. He turned back to Naruto.

Pausing slightly Neji decided there was really no other answer to that question. "No, we are not going out." Naruto smelt a change in Neji's scent, though he had no idea what that one was, and decided to leave that until later.

Instead Naruto turned to Tenten, who was looking off at Gai and Lee, seemingly disinterested in the whole thing, though he could now hear her heart beat thundering in her chest, and surmised that she was anxious for some reason. He turned back to Neji. "So you don't like Tenten like that?"

Neji was getting annoyed by Naruto's seemingly innocent questions, he was not buying it, he was experimenting with the scents they were giving off due to their emotional states, well he thought he might be, Neji admitted he was currently resentful of the blonde and that he might be inventing reasons for that resentment which did not coincide with the truth, as they would be easier to accept. However he focused on the resentment and ignored logic for now. Even so, he still had to answer the question. Explaining to Tenten about Naruto's ability to smell emotions would only cause more problems, and possibly lead to a conversation he was banned from entering, so with a grimace he answered. "She is not… unattractive." There, that was the best he was getting, stupid blond.

Naruto didn't quite follow. "What does that mean? You think she's ugly?"

Neji growled, damn idiot. "No, Naruto." He kept his voice calm. "I was using a double negative, in grammar as well as in maths, a double negative means a positive." He decided to leave out using his statement as an example, at least Tenten would understand even if Naruto didn't.

Tenten through all of this was getting more and more anxious, this was totally _it_. The moment where she found out whether she would ever get a chance with Neji or not, there was none of the romance she had envisioned or the sweet and soft caresses, the entire situation was being instigated by a short blonde kid a year younger than her. Oh how romantic. She couldn't quite bring herself to stop Naruto, morbid fascination and curiosity keeping her back, lest she never find out. She also couldn't bring herself to face either of them, feeling the embarrassment far too great, they were talking about how attractive she was for crying out loud. When Neji replied about what he thought of her, even though it was technically favourable it was more the kind of thing someone would say to not hurt someone else's feelings.

Naruto either seemed oblivious to her plight, or was perhaps fully aware, either way he continued. "So uh, you think she _is_ pretty?"

Neji swiftly turned his head to glare furiously at Naruto. Damn blonde meddling in others business. Neji didn't deign to answer that, content to glare at Naruto. But Naruto seemed immune to his glares. "So you want to go out with her, don't you?" Naruto smiled, he was sure he had found it.

Tenten's heartbeat increased and she began blushing from embarrassment, her body rigid but her entire attention focused on whatever Neji might say. Neji sputtered mentally for a few moments, unsure as to what to say. Truthfully he would not be averse to the idea of dating Tenten, that is to say, she _was_ pretty, though he would likely not admit it aloud and she was also a strong warrior, with brains to back that up. Of course his life was currently, and always had been, not entirely his own. He had responsibilities thrust upon him from an early age and he was sure there was no room in his fate for romance. As such he decided to save them both the trouble. "No." It was simple, harsh, but for the best.

Naruto sniffed the air then grinned. "I knew it! You're lying, you _do_ like her!"

Neji turned back to Naruto, he completely forgot that he could smell lies. "Shit!" Immediately Neji turned to Tenten, who had whirled around whence he had sworn tears were starting to leak from her eyes. Blasted Naruto, he would get revenge for this.

Naruto happily began to wander off, his work there done. Luckily when he turned around Gai and Lee were not acting in any form of sunset of homosexual acts, they were beating on each other, _hard_. Naruto found it definitely entertaining to watch.

Tenten stormed over to Neji, her defiance against being a weak girl causing her to be angry rather than upset. She got right up into his face and slapped him, _hard_. "Bastard, why would you lie about something like that?"

Neji cradled his cheek and tried to form a response. "Tenten, it's not that… I just…" Before he could think of anything decent however Tenten stormed off in a righteous fury refusing to let any of her tears fall.

Neji recovered quickly and marched over to Naruto, and punched him square in the face, Jyuuken be damned that felt _good_. "Naruto, you _bastard_ what the hell are you thinking?"

Naruto just rubbed his cheek whilst sitting where he had fallen on the floor. "Oh come on, you like her, she likes you… what's the problem?"

Neji straightened and crossed his arms in a rather defensive manner. "My fate doesn't have room in it for such a relationship, it matters not what I want."

Naruto looked at him incredulously. "You serious? So _fate_ said that crap and not you? _Please_. Then I reckon it's your fate to run after her and give her a kiss or something." Naruto stood up and mimicked Neji's posture, purely out of mockery this time.

Neji looked at him, then towards where Tenten had stormed off, and back to Naruto. With a growl he turned to where Tenten had gone and ran at top speed. Naruto called after him. "Have the day off for a date Neji!" And smiled to himself. That was _so_ much fun, his cheek had only hurt for a few moments and it had definitely been worth it.

Turning back he was about to resume his spot and continue his training when the two remaining members of Neji's team made their presence known, apparently Gai had won their battle and Lee was leaning against one of the posts recovering. Gai ran up to Naruto with far too much enthusiasm. "Naruto! Yes, I see it now. Your powerfully rejuvenating flame of youth burns brightly! I shall train you in Neji's absence."

Lee echoed from across the clearing. "Yes! Master Gai!"

Gai then took out a scroll and opened it, inside was a strange circular formation of ink with a word I the middle '30'. He pricked his thumb and wiped it across the marking and a poof of smoke formed around the scroll, from the scroll fell various weights, all weighing 30 pounds fell to the floor from the cloud of smoke. Naruto was startled. So startled in fact that Gai was able to swiftly pick up four of the weights and tie one around each of Naruto's limbs, being so thoughtful as to hide the weights under his clothing. Of course the fact he managed this might be due to the fact that Gai moved and completed this process before Naruto would've normally had time to react anyway, dazed or not. Naruto immediately fell to the floor into a kneeling position under the weight on his arms. Sure he could lift it but not that easily, and it was definitely too sudden. "What the hell?!"

Gai once again struck his pose, thumb up, glinting teeth and all. "Yes! Though normally this would be far too much weight to begin with, with your rejuvenating flame of youth you shall easily overcome this trial! Then your flame shall grow large and explode in a youthful fountain."

From across the clearing, Lee once again echoed. "Naruto! Explode for Youth!" Lee seemed to be recovering remarkably quickly considering how he looked like mush in a green leotard only minutes before.

Naruto, from his position on the floor moved one arm to the other and attempted to un-clasp the lock holding the weight on his arm, however it was locked tight. Looking up to Gai he shouted "Hey, how do I get these off." But he was ignored.

Gai was on his way over to Lee already, confident that Naruto would be fine. "Lee! We must train twice as hard to compete with Naruto's impressive youthful flame!"

Naruto's head drooped from his position on the floor, coming to the (correct) conclusion that he would receive no help, and he would either have to wait there for Neji or get to someone who could get these things off of him or deal with it and move. "Ah Damnit, this sucks." Naruto briefly considered using the whip on them, but decided he still couldn't properly protect his flesh from it and the pain wasn't worth it, as he feared Gai would quite happily and unstoppably replace the broken weights for him.

And so with a great sigh and a mighty heave, Naruto lifted himself off the floor and began his trek back to Sarutobi's house, hoping he could get some help there.

---)(---

Elsewhere in Konoha, from the shadows a bandaged arm, apparently from a man seated somehow within the shadow passed a piece of paper to an unidentifiable figure, clad in black with a featureless mask covering their face. The figure opened the piece of paper and read the contents silently to themselves.

-Target: Uzumaki Naruto –

---)(---

Ah done, not as long as the last one but c'mon that was freakishly long. Anyway just to explain, the 'Master Gai' and 'Master Neji' stuff is indeed to replace 'Gai-Sensei' or 'Neji-Sensei' and I'm not changing it.


	3. Techniques

Okay a little more of me complaining before we get started. About the 'reviews'. Seriously, I appreciate the comments and critique I've been given, I also like the predictions, but… I'm getting a _lot_ of reviews which are just comments like 'keep it up' or something. Please, it's getting annoying now, I don't mind people reading and not leaving reviews, feel free to do so. I'd much rather only get a few reviews than lots of useless ones, that way my inbox stays clutter free . Thanks.

Apologies for the large amounts of summarising, but I feel sticking in detailed bits of just training, in which nothing special happens at all, is just a waste of time.

---)(---

Naruto was currently sitting in the Hokage's kitchen eating breakfast with him. There was only one more week left until his ex-class graduated from the Academy and he would 'Graduate' with them. His training with Neji had been both successful and frustrating. Neji was no doubt an excellent teacher, especially as he was making up his lessons from scratch, but Naruto had wanted to learn more about fighting, whereas Neji had stuck strictly to his mandate 'Youki and Smelling emotions'. Naruto couldn't really complain, though he wanted to, because Neji was right – not to mention under orders – and he _had_ learned some awesome moves, he just didn't have too much skill with them yet. Today was his day of relaxation, Sarutobi had insisted. His training with Neji had ended the day before and the following day he was going to re-join his old Academy class for the remainder and sit through classes until Graduation. He wasn't going to be participating in the tests though, the excuse was that due to the development of a bloodline ability he was no longer able to use chakra in the conventional means, but he had been tested by the Hokage himself and found worthy to graduate. Of course this was all utter balls but Naruto definitely preferred it to explaining how he had _died_ and how a _Demon_ had taken him under his wing and forced the Village into treating him better.

Another matter of contention for Naruto, still, was the favourable treatment he was getting from the Hokage. He could smell no deception in all the kind words he had been given when Naruto had told the Hokage of his achievements but Naruto was still suspicious, he was living in the Hokage's _house_ for crying out loud, was the Hokage scared that Naruto would be mis-treated somewhere else, and was protecting himself by having Naruto there? Or was it due to Guilt? For Naruto had smelt an odd scent from the Hokage at times and though he was unsure he had an instinctual feeling that it was guilt. Either way he felt distanced from the Hokage, despite the kindness and the time they had spent together, because he didn't want kindness based on fear, nor did he want pity.

Regardless, Naruto was now sitting at the table eating his cereal whilst Sarutobi read a scroll. This was similar to their morning routine of their lives since he had moved in.

Naruto had been eating his cereal slowly, well, slowly in comparison to his standard rather fevered rate of consumption, because he had been pondering over his return to the Academy the following day. The matter of concern was his current attire, because he only owned rather garish and uncouth orange clothing. He was not so ignorant as to think that it was anything else, even though he personally was rather fond of his clothes. He had purposefully chosen such eye catching clothing because regardless what comments were made, _comments were made_. Starved for attention as he was through his life, it was a small comfort to be looked upon by everyone around. Of course the surprise and the comments had worn down, but people still couldn't help look at him, even if it wasn't so much anymore. But now that wasn't so important, he already had at least one persons – Demon's – attention and he needed to shine within his small spotlight.

Lord Sesshoumaru was obviously Regal, calm and composed. Naruto was not. Though as Sesshoumaru's ward he was expected to be, or at least expected to _try_. As such he felt he needed some new clothing. He had been thinking about this on and off throughout the past months, though since most of his time was spent with Neji and sometimes his team, or with the Hokage, it had not been a pressing matter. Training with Neji had resulted in many slashes in his clothing from his Whip as he lost control of it in the early stages of training with it. As such it seemed silly to get anything better to wear, as it would obviously be ruined. Now however he was to be seen in public, well within the Academy, though he would have to travel through the more populated parts of Konoha, rather than just through the clan district to a rather obscure training ground. So he would need to look good, as he was associated with Sesshoumaru, and he would obviously be displeased if Naruto made him look bad.

As such he was thinking of asking the Hokage to get him some clothes, because he couldn't afford them himself. He knew the Hokage would agree, probably to whatever he asked, but he was wondering how far to push it. Ideally he would want something just like what Sesshoumaru wore, perhaps no armour or swords, and orange instead of red… but just like it. Of course Sesshoumaru's robes were… well _really_ posh and he doubted anything like them would come cheap, so even if he _could_ get some the moral implications of doing so weren't so pretty. Perhaps if he made sure the Hokage understood his position, then it would be okay? Sure he wouldn't get robes as fancy as Sesshoumaru's but it'd be a start and once he had earned some money from doing missions, he could buy some better ones.

Naruto decided to just go for it and see what happened. "Hey old man."

Sarutobi had been wondering about Naruto's silence, normally he would be talking animatedly about his training the day before or what he might achieve this day. Perhaps it had something to do with his return to the Academy or the end of his training with Neji. Either way it was worrying him, Naruto was never this quiet, sure he had noticed Naruto going quiet momentarily, often coinciding with when Sarutobi was reminiscing about his past failures regarding Naruto, and he tried not to do so in the blonde's presence as much as possible since he had made that connection, but it was difficult. Sarutobi was brought out of his musings when Naruto addressed him, in his oh so polite manner. "Yes Naruto?"

"Well, I was wondering if I… we… if you could help me with something…" Naruto wasn't quite sure how to ask this, he didn't want to just come out and ask for some clothes out of the blue, so he decided to explain.

Sarutobi was slightly relieved, Naruto was worried about something, hence the source of his silence. Not only that but he was talking about it, which meant the problem could be solved. "Yes Naruto, what is it?"

"Well I…" Naruto fidgeted. "What I mean is, well, I think I need some new clothes." Not quite as eloquent as he had imagined in his mind, he needed to work on his composure and all that, a lot.

Sarutobi chuckled to himself. "Ah I see what kind of clothes Naruto?" Though he had a good idea, he was sure Naruto had plenty of his current attire, perhaps Naruto wanted something more like Sesshoumaru, it would fit. Anyone in Naruto's situation would likely fall into idolizing Sesshoumaru, as his idol Naruto would then want to be more like him.

Sarutobi was dead on the money. "Well I was thinking of something like what Sesshoumaru wears. But maybe with some orange instead of red." Naruto paused and Sarutobi was about to respond when he quickly added something. "Ah but I don't want to be taking stuff from you! Just something 'till I've done some missions."

Sarutobi smiled, very admirable. Of course he would have none of that, this was a fine opportunity and he would not have it go to waste. "Ah of course Naruto. I happen to know a few gifted tailors, I'm sure I can arrange something. Let's go get you measured after breakfast, shall we?" Sarutobi smiled as Naruto nodded and dug into the rest of his breakfast with fervor. Ah such a silly problem, really. He suspected Naruto had been worrying about asking for something so trivial from him, after all he was the Hokage, even if he weren't quite well off from his job – which he was – many people of the village owed him favours for various things he had done in the past. _'Ah yes, a fine opportunity indeed.'_

---)(---

After Sarutobi had taken Naruto to be measured up he had sent Naruto off to his favourite ramen stand, his treat, and he had stayed with the tailor to discuss the specifics of his order.

After the specifics were worked out, the man said he would be able to get the first order ready by the end of the day, with his entire staff helping. Sarutobi thanked him and left to find Naruto.

After finding Naruto at the ramen stand, looking rather pleased at how much he had consumed, he led Naruto away to a nearby training ground, deciding that seeing first hand Naruto's abilities would be a nice treat before he went in to the Hokage tower for work, albeit a bit late, but he was the boss so he could get away with it.

As they were walking and Naruto chattered away Sarutobi reminisced about all that Naruto had told him about his training, well that wasn't entirely true, he reminisced about what he had discerned to be his training from between the rather obvious embellishments, the rather optimistic proclamations and the great speculation about how '_kick ass_' he would become.

---)(---

Naruto's training with Neji continued on with Gai's team turning up more regularly, Naruto suspected it had something to do with Tenten, she and Neji seemed to be rather close, though Naruto found it hard to tell because whenever they noticed they had his attention – and Neji _always_ noticed – they would either glare at him and walk away or seem to be doing something insignificant like training. Naruto wasn't convinced, they were _so_ going out now. Score one for Naruto.

Of course this had the decidedly detrimental effect of causing Gai and Lee to be present, often. After his first meeting with them Naruto had trudged back to Sarutobi's residence where Sarutobi had helped him remove the weights he had been 'given'. When Gai turned up two days later, instantly spotting Naruto's lack of weights, he thought Naruto had been robbed of his youthfulness and it was up to him to stoke the flames of Naruto's youth. This translated to more weights with seals and extra strong everything. Sarutobi _did_ know how to get them off but he and Naruto decided that if he took them off then Gai might find out, and Naruto certainly didn't want to know what he might do about that.

The result of this was that after only a few weeks of wearing the weights he was capable of mostly normal movements. Gai had been right, he didn't get arm ache or leg ache like he used to, now he just got low on energy, the damage to his muscles being repaired faster than he made it, even with the evil weights. Of course no amount of training, at least that Naruto was performing, could prepare you for holding your arm out for hours on end and twiddling it. Which is basically what he was doing for a large amount of his training, leading to a lot of the Youki he had been sending through his arm to his fingers actually not reaching his fingers as it was used up in healing the muscles of his arm.

On the plus side Neji had stated there was a visible increase in Naruto's Youki reserves, bonus, He also said he couldn't see any noticeable change in Naruto's muscles, no bonus. In fact that sucked. Naruto definitely wanted to test out his muscles somehow, but there were two big problems. One was that the only suitable time would be during training, but he was training, and he was _tired_ afterwards. Two was that he wasn't sure exactly how strong he had been before all this, making comparison rather difficult.

After Neji had deemed that Naruto was sufficiently capable in controlling his Whip whilst channelling his Youki in various ways, he decided they should move onto other things, as it was not his job to train Naruto in actual combat. Naruto, obviously, had expected to be investigating the other things his Youki could do that they had found out; however it was not to be. Neji was adamant that investigating other abilities would not do much for Naruto's control over his Youki that practicing the whip wouldn't and they would merely add to his list of combat abilities. Naruto was all for this argument but Neji countered that it was not _his_ job to teach Naruto how to fight, but how to use his Youki. As such they would work on separating Naruto's emotions from his Youki.

The exercise which Neji came up with, after having investigated what calmed Naruto down, was to have him meditate in a clearing, bathing in the sunlight – assuming there was sufficient sunlight – and channelling his Youki throughout his body. The aim was to help Naruto be calm and perhaps associate the calmness he felt in the clearing with the feeling of channelling his Youki. He chose being calm as he felt not only did it generally have good effects on one's concentration but because Naruto had stated that his Youki felt like aggression, the emotion, and not like energy of some sort as Chakra did. Neji was unsure as to whether Naruto would be able to 'tame' his Youki so that it too felt calm, or if the best they would accomplish would be, as Sesshoumaru had said, to learn to separate his own emotions from his control of his Youki.

In comparison, this training went tediously slowly. Naruto was not one for meditation, but after a few days he had grasped the concept adequately. Neji had been monitoring him with the Byakuugan to check his mental state, and when he was satisfied he had left the clearing. He merely trained in the trees, still working on his defensive technique, but in a different terrain, for surely he would not always be fighting in a clearing, on a nice spot, it would not do for his training to be outside the boundaries that future combat would lie within.

Neji had Naruto meditating for the entirety of their sessions for just over two months. Naruto would often accuse Neji of his motives, saying that he was using Naruto as an excuse to keep Gai and Lee away, for they would disturb his meditation and so their presence was detrimental or possibly treasonous – Neji suddenly liked the threat of treason. Of course Naruto was right. But the training was definitely beneficial nevertheless. Naruto's Youki reserves had sky rocketed, Neji now found it much more difficult to define the Youki pathways, though they were definitely still there, they were obscured by a much greater concentration of Youki throughout Naruto's body. Naruto's development appeared to be very rapid and Neji wondered if it were due to training or if it would be happening regardless, and also regardless of the source Neji wondered if there would be a limit to Naruto's growth, or at least a limit to how far his Youki reserves could increase at such a pace.

After it seemed there was no more progress to be made, at least through meditation, with Naruto's control over his Youki Neji grudgingly admitted that the next course of action would logically be to investigate the strange effects Naruto had discovered early into his use of Youki when he was channelling it throughout his body. Naruto also managed to wrangle the last hour of their training time for them to investigate whether or not Naruto was capable of 'The cool energy ball transformation flying thing' which so far had yielded little success, especially as they had no idea _how_ one was supposed to go about transforming themselves into pure energy, or at least what looked like it. Neji had warned Naruto that it would be entirely possible that since all these abilities seemed innate rather than learned, and he was merely learning how to most effectively use them then he may just not innately have the ability to do the… energy travel… thing. Naruto's response had been that Sesshoumaru had a whip thing, Neji just sighed and said no more on the matter.

So far in their experimentation they had found it surprisingly easy to make Naruto's 'claws' sharp as it only required channelling Youki through his fingers, in much the same way he had first channelled it throughout his own body but on a much smaller scale.

However they had been entirely unable to replicate the fiery mist-like substance Naruto had produced from his palm area once, instead whenever Naruto attempted it he would either fail completely or his Youki would go towards forming the Whip, decidedly _not_ mist-like.

Naruto also insisted there had to be more to his claws than being sharp, investigation along these lines was even _less_ fruitful than looking into producing a mist of some kind, for three of his five fingers were used in producing the Whip, at their tips no less, so surely when channelling Youki there it was meant for the Whip? Well apparently his Youki thought so. No luck there.

There had been more success on the front of the strange cloud Naruto had been able to produce once or twice, which had both times thrown him off his feet in one direction or another. Neji had Naruto first begin by assuring his balance by holding a low branch of a tree and then channelling Youki to his feet. What had happened was basically one or the other of his feet would become lighter and he would've fallen over had it not been for his grasp of the tree.

After that Neji had Naruto jump into the air – which led to the discovery that Naruto was very capable at jumping – and attempt to flow Youki from his feet and push off from that mid-air. There was limited success to begin with however Naruto found this much easier, and so they had been working on that rather than whilst standing.

Even though the first instance was of Naruto manifesting white and grey clouds from his feet, there were no such clouds forming, this led them to the idea that there was another ability tied to Naruto's feet which had to do with the clouds, which they had yet to find out. However as with his hands, Naruto found it difficult to channel Youki to his feet in a way which didn't do the same thing, so they decided to first master what Naruto had dubbed 'Extra Jumping'. Neji was decidedly displeased with this name, he had suggested something along the lines of 'Air Grasping', 'Air Jumping', 'Double Jumping'… hell even 'Magic Feet Technique' was decidedly better to Neji than _Extra Jumping_. However Naruto couldn't be persuaded, Neji – for Naruto's image, and his own as Naruto's first Sensei – hoped that someone would mock Naruto's name for it and he would then choose something better.

They had spend a surprisingly long amount of time on perfecting that technique, Neji said that it would not only aid his control of his Youki, as it was apparently very precise to not fall off-balance but also aid his balance and his awareness of his environment via his senses, as his knowledge of winds and such were a requirement for him to not fall out of the air or to jump off in the wrong direction. Sarutobi quietly thanked Hiashi for his excellent choice, Neji had indeed surpassed his expectations.

After Naruto's progress with his 'Extra Jumping' had topped off at a peak they had been training for a total of eight months.

On a side note, during this time – as he had so much extra time to spare whilst he was watching Naruto – Neji had perfected his 'Kaiten' technique and had begun working on an offensive technique and a variant on the Kaiten, though his progress was slower towards the end as Naruto's exercises became more rigorous.

The last month was used attempting to replicate the mist or the cloud effects, though no success was had with either endeavour

---)(---

Sarutobi smiled to himself as they entered the training ground. He speculated that though grudgingly, Neji and Naruto had become friends over this time, starting with Naruto's interference in Neji's love life. He was definitely certain that Gai and Lee had made friends with Naruto, whether he liked it or not, as they often mentioned him and spent a fair amount of time with Naruto and Neji, though that lowered when Gai was certain of his team's effectiveness even without Neji so far as they were able to begin C-ranked missions again.

Coming to a stop, which caused Naruto to notice the lack of footfalls behind him, so that he turned to face Sarutobi, he prepared for them to begin.

"Okay Naruto, what have you learned?" Sarutobi smiled as Naruto's grin widened.

"Right Old Man! First I'll show you my 'Whip'." Naruto declared and turned away to find a suitable target. Luckily Sarutobi had planned ahead and they were in a training field with many logs sunk into the ground for such purposes. Truly he wasn't sure of the power of this Whip and he was expecting something like a good sword strike, leaving a deep gash in the stump.

Naruto turned to face the nearest stump, squared his shoulders and put his feet shoulder width apart, he then, as casually as he could considering he was quite excited, extended his right hand with his hand pointing down to the ground and slightly to his left. After his hand was fully extended it began to glow a dark orange colour at the point between his index finger, middle finger and his thumb. He flicked his hand diagonally up, so it was now facing away from him. Immediately as the movement began a brilliant dark orange strip of energy erupted from where the glow was and shot out straight towards the stump. Without physical movement on his part Naruto caused the whip to flick, in a rather appropriate whip-like movement as it reached the log, causing the end to extend to the right of the log and then in a blindingly fast movement slash straight through it before retracting back to the glowing point between his fingers. Naruto calmly lowered his hand and looked at Sarutobi expectantly.

Sarutobi was a little shocked, but not in a good way, you see from his point of view Naruto had either somehow missed with that blindingly fast flick or his whip had seemingly fazed through the log, as the log didn't seem damaged at all. "Um, Naruto… the log seems fine."

Naruto sputtered and became instantly indignant. "WHAT! No way! Watch!" He ran off towards the log and punched it at the top, with obviously no effort behind the hit. Immediately the top of the log from the point through which the whip had passed and upwards fell from the rest of the log, an immaculate cut on each end where the now-two pieces used to be attached. Turning back to the Hokage Naruto grinned. "See."

The Hokage was certainly impressed. "Ah I see Naruto, Very impressive indeed, such cutting power would surely rival even the greatest of wind masters." Naruto looked confused, but the Hokage left it at that, happy with his praise.

Naruto shook off his confusion – though what kind of guy who controls air can cut like that? – and he moved on to his next trick. "This is my 'Extra Jump' Technique!

As Naruto prepared to jump Sarutobi mused that Neji was right, that name was rather lame sounding. If a technique were to have a name it should strike fear or apprehension or even jealousy into the hearts of others, not humour. Surely that would not give you an edge in battle.

Naruto jumped into the air, going forwards slightly, perpendicular to the Hokage's position and just after the crest of his jump he tucked in his legs and extended them again, giving him a significant boost in altitude whilst also propelling him directly in the Hokage's direction, a seventy degree turn, most impressive.

When Naruto landed in front of the Hokage he stood to his full height, chest out slightly in pride. "Cool huh?"

Sarutobi smiled. "Ah yes, cool indeed. Though I must admit I have to agree with Neji about your choice of name." Sarutobi smiled wider as Naruto deflated. "But that aside it is a most impressive technique. Your abilities, coupled with your keen senses and from that jump, rather athletic abilities, make you easily Genin level. Now it won't be a lie when you say I personally deemed your skills worthy." The Hokage gave Naruto a conspiratory wink.

Naruto immediately smiled again and winked back. "Thanks Old Man!"

Sarutobi became slightly more serious. "I have thought of some advice for you." Naruto looked inquisitive. "Whilst it may be true that you wont be using hand-seal's it may also be useful to remember them and what they do so that you can predict enemy Ninja's Jutsu to an extent, but also you could pretend to use hand-seals whilst you are in fact doing something else, giving you an edge in surprise."

Naruto nodded eagerly. "Right, definitely!"

Sarutobi continued. "Also Naruto, how much of your Youki does it take up performing these manoeuvres?"

Naruto thought about it for a moment. "It's hard to say, hardly any."

Sarutobi nodded in thought. "If that is the case, it may be worth learning to expel your Youki from your body, as it seems to be rather potent it may be able to act like a shield. Since you won't be using that much for your attacks so far something like this might put it to use. Prevention is better than cure as they say, even if you do have remarkable healing abilities."

Naruto nodded again. "Right! Good idea."

Sarutobi sighed now. "Well then, fun as this has been I had best be off to work."

Naruto nodded, seemingly concentrating on something, perhaps already experimenting with Sarutobi's suggestion? "Oh Naruto?" Naruto paused and looked at Sarutobi. "Whatever you end up doing today, be sure you're back at my house by Nine pm to try on your new clothes. Okay?"

Naruto nodded again. "Right I'll definitely be there!" He was definitely excited about his new clothes.

Sarutobi walked off with a small smirk on his lips. '_Ah he's in for such a shock, hehe._'

---)(---

Naruto had been standing around for about half an hour, his Youki flowing throughout his body and he was attempting to push it outwards, as the Hokage had suggested, however it just wouldn't go. It didn't quite make sense to him because Neji had said there were no actual pathways for his Youki, merely lines along which it seemed to prefer travelling when not doing anything else, as such there were no specific openings for the release of Youki as there were for Chakra, for the same reason. Yet he could definitely release Youki, how else was the whip formed?

As such Naruto decided it was most likely some concept that he was unaware of yet, such as he was previously unaware of his Youki. Since gaining control of his Youki seemed to be the only comparable situation, as his abilities had manifested by channelling the Youki appropriately, he decided to try and become emotional, to perhaps spurn on his Youki.

Though Naruto was a naturally happy person he found it surprisingly easy to become angry, at first he had been focusing on his frustration with his Youki not doing as he wanted, but unbidden images of his past treatment, being ignored constantly, the occasional beatings, being _murdered_.

His eyes began to take on a purple hue and a red tint came to the light bouncing from Naruto.

His mind focused first on the jarring insults and brutality they had shown him, but quickly his mind skipped over the actions of the two now-deceased people and focused solely on Mizuki, for he was most certainly the third Ninja who had been present, the one who had hidden his identity all but his grey hair, for his scent permeated the area when he awoke. Naruto's thoughts turned to Mizuki's scent and his anger boiled higher.

At this point his eyes became red and started developing slits where his pupils were, his nails, or claws truly became claws as they lengthened, ready to be used and the light tint of the light became a definite source of light as a fiery aura began to dance just upon the surface of Naruto's skin, still hidden under his clothes and hair.

Naruto looked to his hands as he felt a tingle in his claws and saw how they had lengthened and saw the film of wispy burning energy which surrounded them. He then remembered his original purpose and realised his anger was not entirely his own, and was being fuelled by his Youki. However, still trying to find the secret to producing such an aura, he held on fast to his anger, forcing the images through his head to keep it near boiling point as he concentrated and attempted to expel his Youki from his body. All at once the flames which made but a thin film around his skin erupted into an inferno. The rage within Naruto which he had been consciously poking like embers of a fire to keep it burning seemed to melt under the newfound heat and pressure and he completely lost all trains of thought for a brief moment as his Youki flared around him, burning the ground and the air and turning him into the centre of a great fire.

But the moment passed and the flames died down and Naruto sank to his knees then braced himself on the floor with his hands and panted, thoroughly worn out.

After ten minutes or so of panting and concentrating on his breathing, Naruto straightened up and with only a slight wobble he stood. He began to think back on his experience.

Indeed it seemed that he could expel his Youki from his body, though whether he could perform it as a defensive technique, or merely a light show was yet to be seen. Naruto noticed the burnt grass surrounding him in a jagged circle and thought maybe his Youki was like fire?

Either way, that had totally exhausted him, he was sure he was running seriously low on Youki now and it definitely wouldn't do to try that again. He decided to walk back to the Hokage's house and have a nap, so much for training.

On his way out of the training grounds he heard a rustle of the leaves in the tree behind him and decided that his little 'light show' had attracted the attention of at least one person, though since they didn't do anything he decided it didn't really matter. Probably ANBU or someone who would go tell the Hokage, if he was lucky they'd follow him back to the house so Sarutobi would know and wake him up when his clothes arrived.

Continuing on his way he continued to think, his claws had not only lengthened but had seemed to be in excruciating detail, but as he focused on them he noticed he didn't have much awareness outside of where he was focusing, he wondered if his eyesight had changed with his claws. Perhaps if he became adept at channelling his Youki as such he may get a physical boost, rather than just his nails, since he hadn't done anything this time he couldn't tell.

Or there was the possibility that the claws and possibly the eyesight was due to his emotional state, he almost felt as if his Youki were boiling within him, but not scolding him but heating him up with it. Perhaps it was that 'heating' which caused changes, and not the release of Youki, perhaps that wasn't even Youki at all but something similar to steam being released as he boiled.

Naruto sighed, he would have to either experiment further or ask someone, because he was getting nowhere apparently, but he remained happy because this was definitely progress, he just had to find out where exactly he was progressing _to_.

--)(--

Later that day, Sarutobi did indeed find Naruto in his room asleep, and it was indeed mostly because his ANBU who had been guarding Naruto followed him there.

However that's where events deviated from Naruto's predictions, for the ANBU had not been guarding Naruto the whole time, they had arrived at Sarutobi's behest because of the waves of energy Naruto was emitting.

Sarutobi had already berated himself on suggesting such a training method to Naruto without having him carefully monitored

When the ANBU arrived they reported that they had detected another presence spying on Naruto but when they went to investigate the presence had rather abruptly vanished, causing a rustling in the leaves. Sarutobi was not pleased with this development and decided it would be prudent to have Naruto guarded at any time he was away from what he deemed sufficient protection. This included the Academy as the Ninja there of the highest ability was Mizuki, one of his top combat Chuunin who was in charge of the physical training at the Academy and as such they were not readily equipped to defend Naruto should it come to that.

Thinking of Mizuki brought Sarutobi to another set of thoughts, how would Naruto react to his presence, he would wait and see, but if Naruto showed any signs of aggression towards Mizuki he would have Naruto's guards have standing orders to quickly remove Mizuki from the area.

Later that day the first set of clothes Sarutobi had ordered arrived, he had looked them over and carefully tested them once they arrived and he was more than satisfied with the results.

Once that was done Sarutobi took the clothes up to Naruto's room and knocked on his door.

---)(---

**Knock knock**

A pause

**KNOCK KNOCK**

Naruto jumped as a noise assaulted his ears, attempting to sit upright whilst also having propelled himself slightly off the bed, which resulted in more of a curling motion. When he landed he un-curled to a lying down position, his heart beating he called out to the noise. "Uh wha?" Very intellectual, but it would do.

"Ah Naruto, I have your new clothes, mind if I come in?" Sarutobi's voice came from the other side of the door.

Naruto quickly got up and started attempting to put clothes on. "Ah yeah sure come in."

Sarutobi chuckled as he entered the room to see Naruto halfway into a t-shirt with one sock on and trying to put his trousers on though he was failing. "Ah Naruto, perhaps it would be good to try your new clothes on rather than getting dressed, hmm?"

Naruto paused, which was a bad idea, as his hopping motion had allowed for compensation for the precarious position and as such he toppled over sideways when his head moved, changing his centre of balance just enough to throw his balance itself askew. "Ahh." Disengaging from his clothing Naruto got back up, now in a sock and his boxers. "Uh sure." Sarutobi presented the clothes to Naruto with a smile and Naruto took them and instantly gawked. "Wow, Old man! These look just like Lord Sesshoumaru's!"

"Ah yes Naruto, I thought they might be appropriate, I had the red changed for orange of course, and I thought a red sash would go well, what do you think?" Naruto just gawked some more for a moment. "Well try them on then see what you think, okay?"

Naruto just numbly nodded up at the Hokage, this was probably too much and he _really_ should tell the old man this isn't what he meant and that he didn't have to go so far, but he couldn't quite bring himself to do so. They felt so _soft_ and they were soo _coooool_ and he just had to try them on at least once.

Naruto quickly put the trousers on, they were just like Sesshoumaru's only scaled down to his own size, they fit around his waist perfectly and billowed out towards the bottom before quickly going in to his ankles. Naruto fumbled around with the top though, as he was unaccustomed to putting such things on, but he managed, though he didn't know how to tie the knot for the sash. "Eh Old Man, how do I tie the sash?"

Sarutobi smiled and took the sash and on himself showed Naruto what to do, once he had taken it off and given it to Naruto, he was able to replicate it himself except it took much longer and wasn't nearly as neat, but it would do for now. "Ah very nice Naruto, how about a look in the mirror?" Sarutobi pointed to Naruto's mirror to the side of his room.

Naruto went up to it and gawked, it looked less regal than Sesshoumaru's especially without that gianormous pelt that he wore, but that thing looked really heavy and Naruto didn't really fancy wearing something like that. Other than that though the top had the same pattern to the one side as Sesshoumaru's, though less detailed and in orange. Over all Naruto did indeed look _cool_ as he would put it.

Naruto turned to the old man, happy having tried them on but definitely thinking they were too much. "Old Man, I think these are a little too much, I don't want to take from you like this…"

Sarutobi smiled. "Why Naruto, how noble, but don't be silly. After all I _am_ the Hokage, those came rather cheaply, for you see I personally invented the seals used within them and so the tailor owed me somewhat, as those seals founded his success." Naruto made an 'o' shape with his mouth but after a while seemed like he would continue to protest but Sarutobi put his hand up to forestall his protests. "Now Naruto, please accept these. I have had some features added which make them excellent protective clothing rather than just looking fancy. I'd like it if you were to wear them, as they would help keep you safe when I'm not there."

Naruto once again smelt what he thought was guilt coming from Sarutobi and guessed this was about his murder, though he didn't want something so lavish, the thought that they had protective properties was definitely appealing, plus he didn't like the scent of guilt coming from the Old Man, so he decided to just accept. "Okay Old Man, if you're sure." He turned back to the mirror and stretched around in them. They provided a good range of movement and were very flexible, though he noticed that when it came to creasing they seemed slightly reluctant to fully fold. "Say Old man, how come they won't crease?" He pointed at his waist where the sash would normally crease the material, at least a little but the material seemed to be fighting back against it when it came to creasing.

Sarutobi smiled. "Ah yes Naruto, there is a type of supportive wire woven into the fabric, it won't protect against weaponry but it will channel electricity away from you, it also acts to hold your clothes together if they rip, so that the rip won't spread and you can easily have them repaired.

"Wow that's totally cool!" Naruto began prodding the areas where his clothes weren't creasing.

"Yes, it is, isn't it? It also keeps your clothes from creasing as though flexible, the wire mesh is resistant to folding. Keeping you looking rather regal, if I do say so myself."

Naruto turned back and nodded. "Yeah!" Naruto then continued to prod his clothes for a while longer. Once he was done he turned back to Sarutobi. "Ah Old man, didn't you say these had seals or something in them?"

Sarutobi smiled and felt proud about his invention. "Ah yes, you probably won't learn about seals until you reach Chuunin, but they are very useful. Seals are a way of creating Techniques using Ink or another medium, with chakra and language or intricate patterns. The most common form of seal is that which stores chakra or objects. Explosive notes are made from seals." Naruto made an 'Ohh' face as Sarutobi continued. "Anyway, these seals, which are of my own design, channel any spread-out chakra that they come into contact with throughout your clothes, splitting it up into fractions and then channelling them around into each other. Effectively using the chakra of an attack to neutralise itself. I have used these seals in all of my own personal battle gear."

Naruto jumped up. "Wow really? That's so cool! So am I like now immune to Ninjutsu?!"

Sarutobi smiled but shook his head. "No Naruto, far from it. Only something such as a fire or air technique would be able to be neutralised in this way, something like a lightning technique, which hits only one point, or a wind technique, which creates a razor edge, not to mention earth and water techniques which attack with their respective elements… would not be affected by these seals." Naruto's enthusiasm deflated. "This is because the Chakra needs to be spread out, but absorbable by the seals, which only air or fire techniques are. Do not forget also, that your exposed flesh is not protected in such a way."

Naruto smiled. "No problem, besides, does that mean my clothes are now fireproof?"

Sarutobi shook his head. "Not quite, though they will not be burned by fires made of Chakra."

Naruto jumped up, clearly that was enough. "Awesome! Say, what's an air technique?"

Sarutobi quickly transferred into lecture mode. "Ah yes Naruto, air techniques are a branch of the wind elemental technique family, using wind elemental chakra, not as a direct attack as it can be used but as a medium to manipulate air through techniques, the user can create great gusts of wind. Unlike standard wind nature attacks, which are weak to fire techniques, air attacks are protected by the air they control, and so are more resistant, an air attack is generally on par with a fire attack and the winner is either the most concentrated or the one with the most chakra." Naruto sat there, slightly puzzled. Wind was beaten by fire, but air could combat it on common grounds, huh? Did this even matter if he couldn't use these techniques? But Sarutobi continued. "Air techniques are however extremely weak against all other forms of elemental attack, especially lightning, this is because whilst wind Chakra is capable of absorbing lightning chakra, when it is dispersed throughout an air technique that effect is too minimal to help, and the very concentrated nature of lightning attacks allows it to pierce the air attack.

Naruto was completely lost by now, but he decided that it didn't matter that much and so he nodded mutely, hoping there wasn't any more.

Sarutobi came to the end of his little lesson and realised it was quite late, and Naruto hadn't eaten since breakfast. "Ah yes, well you must be hungry, fancy some food before bed?"

Naruto nodded, still mildly dazed.

---)(---

After a good meal Naruto went to bed, it took him a while to get to sleep, a mixture between having been asleep earlier for a long while and being nervous of the reactions he would get the next day, however knowing he needed to look good, and not have bags under his eyes if he even still got those, he tried meditating to get into a relaxed state and go from there, luckily his version of meditation was closer to sleep than it's supposed to be generally, so after only two hours of tossing and meditating, he got to sleep.

In the morning Sarutobi took Naruto to the Academy, to explain his absence, since it wasn't originally planned for him to return to the Academy at all but Sarutobi thought it would help him ease into life as a Genin, also if the Hokage were to tell everyone about Naruto's 'Bloodline' then questions could be avoided much more easily, and this seemed the best way to get that accomplished.

Naruto was dressed neatly in his new clothes, the rest would be done by the end of the week but a few pairs would be done by the time Naruto was done at the Academy for him to wear whilst the others were washed etc.

They arrived to Iruka's classroom just as he was finishing taking register, just as planned. It would be best to enter whilst everyone was present, to avoid repeating explanations.

As the Hokage walked in, followed closely by Naruto, the entire room went quiet. "Ah Iruka, please forgive the intrusion."

Iruka quickly replied with a bow. "Ah of course Lord Hokage."

Sarutobi smiled, he did like Iruka, ever so proper and kind, but he had seen Iruka keep the kids in line, truly frightening. Definitely one of the best teachers he knew. "Ah yes, Uzumaki Naruto will be re-joining your class until graduation." Quiet murmurs immediately erupted throughout the room, before Iruka could move to shout at them for their disrespect Sarutobi put his hand out flat pointing generally towards the classroom and waved it up and down, in a general 'settle down' gesture, silence quickly followed. "About nine months ago Naruto developed a bloodline ability, which called for special training as his Chakra no longer behaves as normal chakra does, and of course lessons here are primarily about chakra." Here Sarutobi took a puff on his pipe, which he had lit especially for show before they entered the academy, he felt it added to how intelligent he looked, plus it was a good excuse for a pause, he had taken up 'dramatic pauses' since Sesshoumaru's appearance, since if nothing else forcing someone else to wait for you asserted your authority. "Naruto has shown himself to be of Genin level, so the exam won't be necessary, but it would be good to spend this time with his future comrades." Here he turned from Iruka to the classroom. "Now then, I must let you know that Naruto is being sponsored by a rather important individual because of his abilities, and so you _will_ show him the appropriate respect won't you class?" Of course this was no question, but as trained monkeys, whenever someone of authority asks a question to a class they all respond as they should.

The entire class wasn't entirely sure about all this, _Naruto_ and _respect_ didn't generally go together, most of their parents had talked down about Naruto often, but this was the _Hokage_, so if he said it, then they would have to do so. "Yes Lord Hokage." Their singular answer came in that rather pleasing chorus noise that one gets from lots of people talking at once Sarutobi smiled before making his leave.

"Very good. Well then I shall take my leave, good luck on your Genin exams class." With that Sarutobi puffed out of existence leaving Naruto alone in the corner where the door was situated.

Iruka quickly came to his rescue. "Ah, well then welcome back to class Naruto. Feel free to take any seat." Iruka gave him a few moments whilst he re-added Naruto's name to the register.

Naruto turned from Iruka to the class and saw that there were a lot more spare seats than he remembered, only the best of the class as he remembered it seemed to be there, perhaps others were in remedial classes or one of the other academies, or had dropped out or something, there were plenty of possibilities. He looked around and decided that he didn't particularly like any of these people. Sure he had always strived for their attention but they never really gave it, and were never deserving of being nice. He thought briefly about sitting next to one of his team mates but Shikamaru was by the wall with Chouji on the other side and Ino was next to Sasuke, Sakura on the other side, glaring at the pink-haired girl. Thinking about Sakura brought up bitter feelings so even though there was a spare seat across the aisle from Ino he decided not to bother. Instead he found an empty row to the side and sat on the aisle seat, so that nobody would likely sit next to him.

Iruka began the lesson and Naruto sat there and mostly ignored him, though it was hard as his hearing picked up Iruka's speech whether or not he wanted it to. Throughout the lesson Naruto could tell most of the class was looking at him a lot, though he wasn't sure how he could tell. It was different from the feeling he got from being stared at in hate by villagers or such, it was like some instinctual reaction to a threat, letting him know that they knew where he was and they were watching. It was _creepy_. But he did his best to ignore it and get on with his time there.

---)(---

It was at the end of the lesson when the class broke up for lunch that Naruto's world became hectic. Everyone left the classroom in a fairly orderly fashion, but that was likely because of Iruka. Once Naruto exited the room to have his lunch, which Sarutobi had gotten one of his servants to prepare for him, he ran into basically his entire class, the only person who wasn't present was Shino.

Taking a sniff of the air to see if Shino were hiding behind the crowd somewhere Naruto smelt a faint amount of his scent coming from his back, but other than that, no sign of Shino. Pausing for a moment Naruto decided to just have a look in case, ignoring everyone around him for a moment. He put his right hand behind his neck and into the loose collar of his top and rummaged around for a few moments, by now everyone had gone silent seeing his strange behaviour. Moments later he pulled his hand out with a small bug between his rather sharp nails, it was flailing its legs rather helplessly, since there was nothing for it to get a hold of, no chance of escape. Naruto brought it to his nose and smelt it, yep definitely Shino but only faintly, like a small part Shino rather than Shino himself. Naruto decided that Shino had likely placed this minion of some sort or other on his back to spy rather than coming for answers himself as everyone else had. Naruto brought it up to in front of his face. "Tell Shino I don't like being spied on." With that he put the bug on the wall and saw it scurry off. Turning around to the confused group of people he decided to act cool and dismissive, rather than relishing in their attention outright. This was because since they had come to him, they wouldn't go away if he didn't pander to their whims, since they were curious, and also it would feel even better than just having their attention if he were to milk it somewhat.

With his motives in check Naruto decided the only thing he could really do would be to walk off and expect them to follow, but why? Well he had to eat his lunch some time, so that might work. "Okay, I'm going to go outside and eat my lunch. Since you all obviously have questions, you can ask me them there." With that Naruto walked off, doing his utmost not to grin like a Cheshire cat and to look as aloof as he wanted to come across as. Reaching outside he decided to sit on one of the benches to have his lunch there. That would also let him know who was most comfortable in his presence, or at least who amongst those most comfortable was the most forceful, as there was only room for three people, obviously one would be him.

Sitting down, Naruto carefully took out his lunch and slowly, methodically, so as to drag the process out, began to take off the lid and take out his chopsticks. Before he was even done with this, the group of people, Shino somehow having appeared amongst them since he had walked off, had congregated around him. Akamaru – Kiba's dog – seemed happy to lean up against Naruto's shins, a rather curious action, Ino had taken a seat to his left straight away, perhaps because she was comfortable in his presence, though also possibly because they would be team mates by the end of the week, no one took up the other seat, seemingly happy to crowd around him instead. Before he decided he was done getting his lunch out, Kiba spoke up. "Oy dead last, where you been?"

Naruto decided that didn't constitute respect, as the Hokage had said. He momentarily paused unsure of what to do, tell Kiba off? But that would lead to conflict, no good. He decided he could ignore Kiba until he got his name right. Once his lunch was unpacked and his chopsticks were out, Naruto began eating, where he was originally planning to answer some questions before beginning. Kiba began growling. "Oy dead last Answer me!" He took a menacing step forward, but Naruto studiously ignored him, even though he could smell what he assumed was anger rolling from Kiba in waves.

Naruto continued eating, regardless of the tension in the air. Ino next to him began looking from Naruto to Kiba before thinking of something. "Oy Kiba, his name's Naruto." Kiba looked at her incredulously and was about to object that he didn't actually _care_ but Akamaru barked at him. Strangely Naruto got the feeling that Akamaru had just told Kiba to 'Be nice'. Kiba had paused whilst staring at Akamaru in shock, so Naruto decided to thank the dog, for having more manners than his human had.

Turning his head from his lunch to Akamaru he spoke. "Ah thank you Akamaru." His response was a whine or yip of some sorts, it was high pitched anyway, which he felt was something like you're welcome, or don't mention it, or something like that. Satisfied with his experiment and doubly confused at that revelation, Naruto went back to eating.

Kiba looked around the group for support, but everyone was looking at him, it seemed he had elected himself as spokesperson and they were happy to leave him to do their dirty work. He turned to Naruto when Naruto addressed Akamaru and his eyes widened when the implications set in, did he understand Akamaru? But he shouldn't be able to, only Inuzuka could understand their dogs. Growling to himself and grudgingly admitting, but only to himself, that Naruto might not be the Dead Last anymore, Kiba decided to use his name. "Naruto, where you been?"

Naruto smiled to himself, success. Sesshoumaru's way of doing things rocked, this was so totally sweet, everyone was paying him attention now. He looked up at Kiba and finished chewing his food before swallowing. Then he answered. "Ah well, long story short I've been training with Master Neji to learn about my new abilities."

In the crowd Hinata's eyes widened, this was the student Neji had been given by order of the Hokage? _Naruto_? Her admiration for him jumped up slightly, she had always wanted to be close to Neji, as she respected him and looked up to him and his strength, but she had never managed. For Naruto to have gotten close to him, for she knew Neji had become close with his student, meant he was that much more remarkable than she thought. Of course Hinata didn't have nearly enough courage to ask about any of this. Instead Sasuke pushed forwards to the front of the crowd and demanded more than asked. "You've had personal training dead last?!" It was obvious to all that Sasuke was Jealous. But his reasons weren't particularly unjustified. Naruto _was_ the worst student they should train _him_ if they were going to train anybody. Surely he had far more ambition than this loser who didn't even come to many of the classes, when he was still _in_ the Academy.

Of course Naruto refused to respond, having deemed his interaction with Kiba to be a success earlier, he was extra sure in his course of actions this time. As such he turned his head downwards and continued eating his lunch. Sasuke silently fumed in anger at being dismissed, but he was nothing if not intelligent, he knew why Naruto was ignoring him, and grudgingly he agreed that if the roles were reversed he would do something similar, if not get angry and act out, which wasn't that likely. Deciding that his curiosity was great enough to warrant this concession, not to mention the Hokage had told them that they should be more respectful towards Naruto. "Fine. Naruto."

Naruto looked up from his lunch at Sasuke. "Ah, yes Sasuke?" Even more pleased this time, this was definitely fun and he was definitely enjoying all this attention, this was _much_ better than making a fool of himself, he felt pride when they called him by his name rather than insulting him.

Sasuke almost growled. "You know what." Naruto decided that was likely the best that he would get, pushing any further would likely tip Sasuke off the edge, he was almost as angry as Kiba had been.

"Alright, fair enough. Like the Hokage said, my Chakra doesn't act like normal Chakra does anymore, so I needed help learning to control it." Sasuke nodded, seemingly placated, at least somewhat, with that answer.

Sasuke continued standing in front of Naruto for a moment before continuing with his questioning. "Who was your Sensei?"

Naruto smiled, he liked Neji. "Neji, Hyuuga Neji. Last year's rookie of the year, I believe." Sasuke's anger seemed to evaporate. If he was receiving tuition from a Genin, whilst the instructors of the Academy were Chuunin, then logically he wasn't missing out on anything, even if it _was_ the rookie of the year, he had only been a Genin for a year, still nothing too special. Satisfied Sasuke stepped back, though he didn't leave, he _was_ still curious about Naruto's abilities and the apparent 'sponsor' he had acquired.

Naruto went back to his lunch, though it wasn't to be. As soon as he had gotten a bite he felt a poking sensation in his left arm and Ino's voice talking to him. "Naruto, who was that guy we met? Is that your sponsor? Your clothes look really similar now."

Naruto turned to Ino, some rice still hanging from his mouth, he quickly finished what was in his mouth and wiped the remnants from around his mouth with his spare hand. "That's Lord Sesshoumaru. He's _amazing_. He's more powerful than Lord Hokage!" Naruto beamed with pride that someone so amazing was interested in him.

In the crowd Sakura paled, someone _that_ powerful had looked like he wanted her dead? _Shit_. She really needed to apologize to Naruto.

Ino continued questioning though, asking the question everyone was thinking. "No offence Naruto but if he's really that powerful, why is he interested in you?" Naruto didn't take offence; he had been expecting something like that.

"Ah no problem Ino." He was unsure as to what to tell them about Sesshoumaru, he remembered telling Sakura in Ino's presence that he had apparently reminded Sesshoumaru of his brother, though in Sesshoumaru's own words that wasn't exactly a good thing, plus the reaction to that wasn't exactly good, especially considering how personal that was. No, Naruto decided he wouldn't bother with that. Instead he'd go with how their abilities were similar. "Well I think it's mainly because our abilities are so similar."

Ino's eyebrow rose. "Similar how?"

Naruto perked up. "Ah, I only saw one of his abilities, but I can do it too! It's this energy _Whip_ and it's really powerful, though he can use his way better than I can use mine."

Ino was suitably impressed, well she had the potential to be. If Naruto's ability was one shared by someone who was allegedly as powerful as the _Hokage_. But of course Naruto was known for embellishment, so there's always room for disappointment. "Can you show us?"

Naruto jumped at the chance, metaphorically. He handed Ino his lunch, who took it reflexively before looking at it and shouting at Naruto. "Hey." But Naruto was seemingly ignoring her, he was stood up and looking around the academy grounds. Once his perusal had taken his vision over to a patch of trees. "Ah that'll do, follow me." Naruto walked, calmly as he could in all his excitement, which wasn't too calmly but he was still doing rather well, over to the trees he had spied. Stopping about twenty feet from the closest tree Naruto looked behind himself to see that everyone was watching him expectantly, Ino looked to be rather angry though and less expectant, but everyone else was expectant. Naruto turned back around and, like he had when showing the Hokage, calmly lifted up his arm with his ring and little finger curled up and the three remaining digits making a triangular formation, his hand was tilted at the wrist downwards and to his left, as he was using his right hand. Then a rather brilliant dark orange light began to come from between his three opened fingers and with a flick of his wrist Naruto created a whip of energy which arced out from the glowing area between his fingers towards a branch of the tree. Once it reached the branch the end of the whip flicked and passed straight through the branch, though unlike his demonstration to the Hokage, gravity was not on the branches side and it was halfway towards the floor by the time Naruto had fully retracted his whip. He couldn't get it to disperse like Sesshoumaru had done before, yet. Nor could he make it seemingly shoot out following a path of its own either, though he could manipulate it on the path he gave it quite a lot.

Lowering his hand and turning back to the gathered crowd Naruto was very pleased at their reactions. Whilst not everyone looked surprised, like Sakura and Ino in particular did. Sasuke and Shino for instance looked completely nonplussed, Naruto saw surprise on most of their faces, not to mention he could smell surprise coming from everyone, or he thought it was surprise. Since the same general scent came from everyone, and he had deduced that most of them were surprised, it stood to reason that meant they all were. Naruto grinned before addressing them. "Cool huh? Must be for you all to be surprised."

Sasuke immediately reacted, he had been working hard to hide his surprise and he would be damned if he would be caught up in some sweeping statement. "Who's surprised?" Sasuke resisted calling Naruto the dead last, because that was evidently no longer the case, but he wouldn't go around calling his name out willy nilly as if he had actual _respect_ for him.

But Naruto's smile widened. "Come now Sasuke, no need to be embarrassed. Besides, I can smell it." Naruto tapped his nose. "Everyone's surprised." Naruto then walked forward towards Ino, whose anger at being given Naruto's lunch to hold had faded away, the phrase '_That was totally_ awesome' was running through her head instead of her anger. Once Naruto was in range Ino wordlessly handed him his lunch, but continued to stare at the tree for a few moments before turning to follow him.

By that time Naruto was somehow already at the bench, getting settled in again to eat his lunch. Their group congregated around him again, Akamaru leaning against his legs once again but Ino didn't sit down.

This time, surprisingly Shikamaru spoke up first, his gaze intent upon Naruto's hand. "Naruto, is that some kind of Chakra string? The control required for Chakra strings is very high." A lot of people looked at Shikamaru wondering how he knew that. Naruto looked up between bites, he was almost finished now anyway.

Thinking for a moment, since _he_ didn't know what Chakra strings were, even if Shikamaru did. "I don't know, I just put Chakra into my hand and it comes out. Though I have to say moving Chakra around isn't as easy as it used to be." Naruto added the last bit because it was true, well except for the Chakra bit, moving Youki wasn't as easy as Chakra had been, but also because he didn't want people thinking he had it easy.

Shikamaru continued. "How hard is it? To move your Chakra I mean?"

Naruto had been about to finish off his lunch but stopped as a question was asked so soon. "Ah well, it took me almost nine months to get to this level, training on just control every day." Shikamaru was impressed, even if not everyone was. He knew of a few Chakra control exercises and at their current level it would take even the worst of them only a few weeks to master the first one, the tree climbing. If it took Naruto this long then that was nothing to scoff at.

Kiba wasn't very impressed. "Heh nine months? What are you retarded? Come on." Naruto ignored Kiba and Akamaru got up and bit Kiba on the shin. "Ow! Hey Akamaru what the fuck?!" Akamaru growled making a seemingly random series of noises at Kiba. "What? What the hell is a Youkai?"

Naruto had also heard what Akamaru had said, though it was more undefined than he supposed it was for Kiba, he got the general gist that Akamaru was telling Kiba off, and something about respect, but he got the word 'Youkai' loud and clear. Deciding he had best step in lest he end up in an awkward situation. "Ah a Youkai is the title for my abilities, the same way you are an Inuzuka." Kiba looked at Naruto and frowned, it didn't seem like that, why was his name not 'Youkai' rather than Uzumaki? Akamaru looked at Naruto, and Naruto subtly shook his head. Akamaru looked at him a little longer before turning back to Kiba and yipping, which Naruto translated along the lines of "Yeah" or "That's right." Deciding to thank Akamaru he nudged him with his foot as he picked out the last bit of meat from his lunch, once he had Akamaru's attention he tossed it at the dog, who deftly caught it in his mouth. Naruto then winked at Akamaru who yipped once he was done with the meat. Kiba didn't miss the interaction but he decided to leave it until later.

The next question was rather unexpected, Chouji pushed himself to the front of the gathering, though he did so in a rather gentle manner. Once he got there he had Naruto's attention, as Naruto had just finished off his lunch and was merely holding an empty box. "Ah Naruto um, since your nose is really good now, right?" Naruto nodded, seemingly wondering where this as going. "Has your sense of taste improved?"

Naruto's eyebrow rose, that was an unexpected question. He had to think about it for a moment. Meanwhile Shikamaru and Ino both slapped their foreheads with their hands, clearly exasperated at Chouji's one-track mind. Even in a situation where they were learning about some new powerful bloodline he managed to relate it to food. Naruto quickly formulated his answer. "I don't think so, I mean. I taste everything fine but I don't think it's especially strong compared to before though. It's like I can now taste or smell things which would've been impossible before, but they seem to smell as much as everything else, like everything levels out. It's only when something is _really_ bad that it smells more strongly, which is _really_ unpleasant.

Naruto chuckled, drawing confused glances from the people around him. "Ah sorry, I was just remembering something. Master Neji's team mate Lee once brought some of his home cooking for us to try, because Neji's other team mate had made him lunch, and he wanted to compete as well, he's a bit competitive. Anyway by the time he had gotten within about three metres of me I had passed out from the smell, it was _awful_." Naruto chuckled again. "When I woke up he was crying and apologizing faster than I thought possible." Another chuckle. "That was funny."

Most people in the crowd were laughing at the anecdote, especially Chouji, who had encountered Lee's cooking in the past, when there was a fete held by his clan, his father had been one of the judges in the cooking competitions and had been very ill immediately after tasting Lee's entry. Some people's talents just lay elsewhere it seemed. Kiba however was more fixated on what Naruto said. He recalled earlier about how he said he could smell the surprise coming from everyone, and had tapped his nose. Kiba was sure there was no way for someone to _smell_ emotion or emotional reaction. He knew a lot about smell and he had never heard of any animal capable of such feats of olfactory sensitivity. "Naruto, just how powerful is your nose?"

Naruto looked at Kiba quizzically. "I'm not really sure, pretty good. Better than before at least. Why? Doesn't your clan all have good senses of smell?"

Kiba nodded. "Yeah but, what's the faintest thing you can smell?" Naruto stared blankly at him. "I mean the thing that's hardest to pick up!"

Naruto made a small 'o' with his mouth before thinking about it. "Well um, I'm not really sure, but I think lies are the hardest. The scent is really faint most times, especially if I'm not very close."

Kiba stared at Naruto incredulously. "What, you can _smell_ lies?" Naruto nodded, looking as if this shouldn't be a surprise at all.

"Yeah why? Can't you?" Kiba stood up straight and tried to look imposing or impressive, or something along those lines.

"Of course I can." He nodded his head affirmatively, as if this were extra proof of his credibility.

Naruto began to chuckle. "That's funny, but come on, I just told you I could smell lies. So you can't huh?" Kiba deflated, having been caught. "Well don't worry about it, it's not that handy anyway, nobody can ever tell you a white lie so as to not hurt your feelings, or keep a secret from you that you'd be better off not knowing." Kiba looked at him funnily.

"How can it _not_ be useful?" Kiba waved his hands around. "We're _Ninja_ how can that _not_ be a useful ability?!"

Naruto nodded. "Okay yeah, it's useful for a Ninja but what about for life? Like hmm… Hey Sakura." Sakura jumped, startled, and looked to Naruto. "Do you think I'm attractive?"

Sakura faltered, what the _hell_? She didn't want to offend him, but if he could tell she was lying she obviously would, she hadn't even gotten a chance to apologize yet and he was putting her into another situation she would have to apologize for. "Um, you look good in your new clothes." Inner Sakura, her second personality, cheered for her. Definitely impressed by that quick thinking that had gotten them out of the heat.

Naruto nodded to Kiba. "See?"

Kiba looked at Naruto as if he were stupid. "See what? That was a compliment."

Naruto nodded. "Exactly. Very clever Sakura by the way, almost missed that." Naruto turned back to Kiba. "But she was being deceptive, my clothes may look good but she doesn't think I'm attractive, you see?"

Kiba didn't look very impressed. "Oh come on."

Naruto shook his head and turned to Ino. "Okay Ino, same question."

Ino faltered this time. "What?"

Naruto repeated his earlier question. "Do you find me attractive? Actually scrap that. Just tell me a compliment which you don't believe."

Ino looked at Naruto incredulously for a moment before coming up with something perfect. "You definitely look as regal as that Sesshoumaru guy."

Naruto put his hand to his heart. "Ino, you wound me!" He put his hand down and smiled whilst turning to Kiba. "See? Every time someone compliments me I'm going to know what they really think, I personally think that sucks, life can be easier not knowing." Naruto's eyes glazed over, thinking back to how he felt about being told he was basically a sacrifice for the village, he would definitely have been happier not knowing.

Kiba wasn't convinced. "What? Come on, you could probably make a fortune in interrogation, you could skip the entire process almost."

Naruto shook his head but Shikamaru spoke up. "Not quite Kiba, Naruto can only tell when someone is lying, he might miss when someone just misses out some of the truth, and he wouldn't be able to tell what the truth is from a lie unless it was a yes or no answer."

Naruto nodded. "What he said, though I'd still be able to tell if information was false, that's a good idea Kiba." He smiled at Kiba, there was a definite career in that. "Okay, anyone else?" Nobody answered. "Right, okay then." Naruto stood up and stretched, being careful not to knock Akamaru who was still at his feet. "If that's all then I'm going to take this opportunity to show off." Naruto then turned to Ino again, hoping his trick would work twice. He casually held out his empty lunch container towards Ino, as if it were the most natural thing to do. Ino, still caught up in her thoughts slightly just took the box from him reflexively, though immediately afterwards she looked down at the box in her hands.

In the time it took for Ino to notice what Naruto had done, Naruto had pushed through the crowd surrounding the bench and headed towards the Academy, though he was headed towards the nearest wall, perpendicular to the nearest entry. Ino gave chase angrily. "Get back here Uzumaki! Deal with your own litter!" She waved the box around angrily.

Naruto turned around when he reached the wall, smiled at Ino and waved before doing an impressively high back-flip into the air, reaching just over two thirds of the way up. Immediately once he had peaked, and his flip had taken him right around to being the right way up again, he crouched and _jumped_ from thin air, upwards further. Sailing easily over the rails of the roof of the Academy and out of view. Once he was up there Naruto stayed behind and listened intently for the reactions, he was not disappointed. First he heard the sound of the lunch box hitting the floor, followed by some wows and speculation on how he did that. Naruto grinned to himself and dashed off to the class room.

Naruto got there before the end of Lunch and set himself up in his seat, getting comfy and completely relaxed, he put his feet up on the desk, since Iruka wasn't there to tell him off yet.

Everyone arrived right at the end of the lunch bell and they all smelled of food, apparently they had quickly had their lunches after he had jumped off, he wondered why they didn't just eat whilst they were there, a lot of his classmates hadn't even said anything, like Shino, the bug incident still creeped him out slightly and he made sure to check again for any bugs, luckily there were none.

When sitting down, Shikamaru and Chouji squeezed in to Naruto's row, though he let them in once he figured out what they were doing. Naruto smiled to himself even as Iruka walked in and immediately shouted at him to put his feet down.

---)(---

At the end of school Naruto was feeling very refreshed and rested, since he had spent half the time since lunch sleeping, and the other half daydreaming about what powers he might be able to get from the what he called 'Boiling' of his Youki. As such he wanted to get back to the Hokage's house quickly, so they could discuss what he had found, and perhaps he could have another try, after all he felt rather full of energy after all the rest he had had recently.

On his way out of the building He was stopped however by Sakura. "Wait Naruto, hold up a second." Turning around he spied Sakura coming toward him from the direction of their classroom in a hurry, seemingly eager to talk to him about something. For a moment Naruto entertained the idea that she would ask him out on a date, he _did_ still think she was rather pretty, however memories of the last time he had seen her before today, coupled with the firm knowledge that she didn't find him attractive caused him to throw those thoughts away, such thoughts also put a severe dampener on his previous enthusiasm, putting him in a rather bad mood. Absently Naruto wondered at the ease with which he could slip into a bad mood whereas before his 'death' such was not the case, but he had little time to ponder over it.

As Sakura caught up to Naruto and stopped in front of him, Naruto raised an eyebrow, wondering why she was running to catch up with him. "What is it, Sakura?"

Sakura briefly wondered at his slightly callous tone, but hoped after she had apologized there wouldn't be a callous tone when he spoke to her. "Ah um… I wanted to apologize, about before…" Sakura fidgeted nervously and looked away. "About the things I said to you in the hallway… I shouldn't have, I'm sorry." She chanced a look at Naruto and found his face rather puzzled.

Naruto was rather surprised at the apology, that had been nine months ago, was she really so sorry that she had remembered all this time? Naruto took an experimental sniff of the air but he found no traces of anything like guilt, however Sakura did smell strongly of something like fear. Surely Naruto surmised, you don't apologize because you're scared, you apologize because you're sorry. Naruto then had the frightening idea that she might be scared of him, scared of what he might do if he stayed angry at her. But then also he remembered how the Hokage had reprimanded her, perhaps she was scared for her Ninja career and wanted to get into good favour with the Hokage through him? Naruto wouldn't accept the apology until he knew. "Sakura, why are you apologizing?"

Sakura was startled, why was he asking this? She had been expecting either a rejection or acceptance of her apology. She looked at him and tried to come up with an answer. "I… err…" However she didn't manage much.

Naruto decided to ask her to find out, as there were only three possibilities he could think of, it shouldn't be too hard to find out. "Are you afraid of me, Sakura?"

Sakura immediately shook her head. "No, no that's not it, I… err… It's that Sesshoumaru you were with." Sakura took a breath. "Ino said his eyes went red and he had _fangs_ and that he looked like he wanted me _dead_ and I wasn't even thinking about what I said, I'm sorry Naruto." Sakura looked to be on the verge of tears, this time, though the scent of fear was stronger, Naruto definitely scented guilt. That would do.

"Don't worry Sakura, its okay. I forgive you, no harm done, okay?" Naruto smiled, trying to cheer her up.

Even though Sakura had only just been at the verge of tears, she still smiled back when she saw him smile, it was infectious after all, plus she was overwhelmingly relieved, she had been worrying over that ever since. "Thanks Naruto."

Naruto decided that was that, and rather than let anything get awkward he decided he was still definitely eager to get back. "Well, if that's all, I've got to get back to the Hokage's house, see ya tomorrow Sakura." Naruto waved as he ran off, Sakura waved in return. As Sakura started walking again she realised where he had said he was going. The _Hokage's_ house. Wow, Naruto was certainly going up in the world, fast. She couldn't help but be jealous of him.

If only she knew what he had to go through to get there, she wouldn't be jealous at all.

---)(---

When Naruto returned to the Hokage's house Sarutobi wasn't there yet, he would likely be at the Hokage tower for many hours to come. Naruto went out into the Hokage's garden, picking an area that had been used for practicing fire techniques, so as to not damage the healthy grass, and focused. He tried with all his will and creativity to make his Youki boil as it had before, though he decided he would not let himself become angry or slip into a rage to achieve it this time, he would remain calm. Doing so was easier said than done, it seemed that the metaphorical 'heat' of his emotions stirred the actual heat of his Youki, literally if you looked at the grass in the training field he had been in before.

He spent probably five hours in total in the Hokage's garden before giving up and retiring for food and then sleep. In that time he had actually managed to produce the thin film of energy which strongly resembled fire covering his skin. To do so he had attempted to forcefully mimic the boiling of the Youki by basically twisting and turning it within himself as fast as he could, which wasn't very fast at the moment. This was definitely a start though, he would run it by the Hokage the next morning at breakfast.

---)(---

The next morning, as Naruto was again eating his cereal, though much faster this time and Sarutobi was once again perusing some seemingly random scroll Naruto decided to bring up. "Old Man." Sarutobi lowered his scroll and looked towards Naruto. "Did your masked guys tell you about yesterday, when I was in the training field?"

Sarutobi knew what he was talking about, ANBU or not he had felt the waves of energy himself. Luckily they bore little similarity with the Kyuubi's own other than that they seemed to have a feel of anger to them, though much less pronounced, perhaps that was just what demonic energy felt like. "Ah yes, Naruto. I know of what you speak. You wouldn't mind enlightening me on what exactly happened?"

Naruto paused for a moment, thrown by the word 'Enlighten' but guessed it meant to tell the Hokage what had happened, so he continued. "Well after you left I gave your idea a go, but I totally couldn't do it." Sarutobi's eyebrow rose, surely that was not the case? "So then I thought back to my training, and I remembered that to get the feel of my Youki, Neji got me angry, so I made myself angry, I think I went a little overboard because I almost forgot what I was doing, but anyway, once I was angry enough I could feel the Youki in my body almost… _boiling_." Sarutobi's other eyebrow rose now to join the first. "At that point I noticed a thin sort of film of Youki coating my skin, it looked just like fire, I also noticed my vision seemed to have changed. Anyway, at that point I gave it another go, to expel the Youki from my body and it was like I was covered in fire, all the anger and rage I had been fuelling before took on almost a life of its own, but then I ran out of energy."

Sarutobi nodded, thinking seriously on the matter. "I see obviously there is potential for such a technique however it seems to come with risks." Sarutobi continued to ponder until Naruto interrupted his musings with more information.

"That's not all Old Man." Sarutobi re-focused his attention on Naruto. "Last night after the Academy I gave it a go again, but I tried to keep calm and make my Youki act like that anyway. After like two hours I tried twisting it around in my body, to sort of pretend it was boiling. It didn't go so well though, I spent another three hours before I gave up, and I only got to the point where there was that film of energy around me, it wasn't responding when I tried to make it leave my body this time."

Sarutobi nodded. "An excellent step to take, I'm impressed." Naruto beamed with pride. "Yes, perhaps this is the correct avenue to pursue on this matter." Sarutobi began stroking his chin. "There might be some sort of minimum you have to reach in 'boiling' your Youki as you call it, before you can make it leave your body in a rush as you did before. If you keep practicing twisting it whilst you remain calm, perhaps you'll be able to reach that level without having to endure such negative emotions?"

Naruto nodded. "Right, I'll definitely manage it! Then I'll be even more _awesome_!" Sarutobi smiled and looked over to the clock in the kitchen.

He chuckled to himself. "Ah that may be Naruto, but if you don't hurry and eat your breakfast, you'll also be _awesomely_ late to the Academy."

Naruto froze before quickly looking at the clock. "CRAP!" He immediately inhaled his breakfast before making a mad dash for the door. "SEE YOU LATER OLD MAN!"

Sarutobi didn't bother responding, knowing Naruto was long gone and instead raised his scroll to read whilst chuckling to himself.

---)(---

Luckily for Naruto he was second last on the register so he had a few extra precious moments with which to reach the Academy before he was late.

Iruka was half-way through calling out his name, though it was obvious he wasn't there, when he burst through the door and shouted. "I'M HERE!" before slumping and catching his breath. He had jumped from roof to roof all the way to the Academy, much like he had seen Ninja do, he had also used as much Youki as he could, flowing it through his legs, his feet, using it to do Extra Jumps so that he could safely reach those further away roofs. All in all it was quite tiring.

Iruka made sure his smile didn't show. "Just on Time Naruto, you're not slipping back into your old habits are you? With only four days left until graduation as well." Iruka made a tut sound before pointing to the classroom. Naruto was too tired from his mad dash to complain, instead he looked around and sat in the closest empty seat, next to Ino, who was busy glaring at Sakura past Sasuke, as she always did.

Iruka put the register away and addressed the class. "Right everyone, today we begin the run up to the Genin exams. First thing on the list is checking your Taijutsu proficiency, you will each spar one-on-one with Mizuki while I grade your performance.

Naruto's head shot up, immediately forgetting his fatigue in light of this new development. A cruel smirk spread across his features as his eyes turned purple and he began emitting a slight but unnoticeable red glow.

---)(---

A masked figure knelt on the ground almost completely shrouded in the shadows of the night which permeated the room. Wordlessly the figure handed a bound manila folder in front of them and a hand picked it out of the air and drew it back into the shadows.

A deep raspy chuckling emitted from the shadows and then the same raspy voice whispered. "Ah, that _is_ interesting."

---)(---

Ah, to forestall any criticism, I know the bit in the training field was kind of clinical for an emotional event, but that's just the way I write / If you're into the deep and graphic imagery for that kind of stuff I suggest Pride-Fall, probably my most respected author.

And about the lunch break scene, I know not many people talked, but a lot of them aren't talkative, or were nervous. As such they wouldn't really talk when others are there to ask questions for them.


	4. More Tests

Warning: Contains mild peril!

Ah I forgot the E-mail of my Beta! If you read this could you send me a mail? TT sorry!

PETE HAS RECEIVED A FAN-ART!!! WOOT. Cough uhh, yeah. Pete likes his Fan-Art. Fan-Art is encouraged. walks away calmly

Confession: The Sesshoumaru/Tree scene is blatantly plagiarised from the manga, as I'm reading it through at the moment though information about other events is from my own knowledge of the series.

---)(---

Sesshoumaru was wandering through a rather remote forrest, followed closely by his retainer Jaken, a rather small green Youkai, carrying a wooden staff thrice his height, atop which were two elderly heads, one male and one female.

Following closely behind Jaken was a mount, a two-headed dragon the size of the largest horse, with strong green scales, a muzzle over each mouth and a fine leather saddle on its back. Atop its saddle sat a young girl, black hair quite long for her age, a small tuft of it cropped at the side and a rather fine Yukata for clothing.

Jaken, who was following Sesshoumaru loyally as he had done for many years, asked about their location. "Lord Sesshoumaru, your Father's acquaintance lives in such a small forrest?"

Sesshoumaru didn't deign to respond because when they got there that would be answer enough. It wasn't long until a rumbling crackly voice sounded from the canopy. "Ah I thought you'd visit some time soon."

The girl atop the dragon's back looked up startled. "A voice came from the sky…" One of the dragon's heads also looked up to investigate the sound.

Sesshoumaru stepped up to the trunk of a rather large and impressive tree and spoke. "Bokusenou?" A pause. "You know why I've come."

An aged face seemed to grow out from the tree at Sesshoumaru's head-height, seemingly made from the bark of the tree. "That you've come to see me means that you've come about the swords, haven't you. It's about your Father's memento Tessaiga huh? Or is it…"

Behind him Sesshoumaru heard Jaken and the girl he had resurrected, Rin, discussing how he was talking to a tree, he paid them no mind. Though Jaken asked him who he was talking to, he felt it appropriate he answer. "A two thousand year old Magnolia Hypoleuca Tree." He turned back just as the tree spoke.

"Indeed, and also the scabbards of Sesshoumaru's Father's swords; Tessaiga and Tenseiga… were carved from my branches."

Sesshoumaru pressed on with the reason he was here. He had recently fought Inuyasha after having Acquired the Tokijin, a sword he had had forged from the fangs of one of Naraku's spawn. The same fangs which had been able to bite through Tessaiga. During their fight, as a result of the repair process, Tessaiga was too heavy for Inuyasha to wield until he became stronger and so Inuyasha attempted to attack Sesshoumaru without. Immediately Sesshoumaru had the upper hand however once Inuyasha had been pushed back, he crouched down and seemed to change. Sesshoumaru himself felt a slight fear from the aura Inuyasha began to emit, his eyes turned blood red all over, with dark blue pupils and a jagged purple slash appeared on each of his cheeks. He looked as if he were a full-Youkai and that he was channelling his Youki, preparing for battle. Sesshoumaru disabled Inuyasha with Tokijin's abilities but did not pursue the battle, because it seemed as if Inuyasha had fallen into a berserker state and it would not do to defeat him when he was not himself. It was also because there were still questions to ask. Such as, if Tessaiga was too heavy for him to wield, and would remain so until he grew in power, how was he to ever wield it? Perhaps he should check on Naruto and his progress. But also it seemed as if Inuyasha had been taken over by the Youkai blood within him, which while it granted him seemingly great strength and an aura which rivalled their father, it seemed to be detrimental to his conscious mind. Sesshoumaru was here to see his father's friend to find out what was going on. "Bokusenou you'd know wouldn't you. The connection between Inuyasha and Tessaiga."

Bokusenou, or rather the face protruding from the tree Bokusenou, paused for a moment before speaking. "Inuyasha… you're younger brother huh?"

Sesshoumaru decided to detail the information he held. "The first time was when Tessaiga was bitten apart by an Oni… the second was when he discarded Tessaiga in battle with me. Inuyasha's blood changed. It went from a Hanyou's blood smell to the same Youkai's blood smell as that of Father's and my own."

Bokusenou's face once again paused and its features crinkled to resemble thought. A branch shaped much like a hand grew from just below the face and began scratching the chin area of the face. "The same Youkai's blood huh? I wonder about that…"

Sesshoumaru prompted impatiently. "What do you mean by that?" Though he desperately wanted to threaten the tree into hurrying up, he knew that tree spirits were often slow in nature, as they lived for so long in the same place. But also because it was a close acquaintance of his Father, the donor of the sheath's to his Father's Memento swords. As such the tree deserved more respect than to be threatened.

Bokusenou finally continued. "Inuyasha is half-Youkai born between a human and a Youkai. He can never become a true Youkai. At any rate Sesshoumaru there is something you as a Perfect Youkai can do that Inuyasha can not do. That is… preservation of the self…"

Sesshoumaru was confused now; he had seen Inuyasha defend himself fine, against himself no less, what did this have to do with self-preservation? "Preservation of the self…?"

Bokusenou continued after a pause, which was starting to annoy Sesshoumaru. "Indeed for an example Sesshoumaru… when in the middle of battle, no matter how pressed you were, though your mind was cool… have you ever lost yourself?"

Sesshoumaru's pride kicked into full gear. "Hrmph. Being pressed is not something that's happened to me." Sesshoumaru grudgingly thought of the loss of his arm to Inuyasha, and later being hit full-on by a blast from Tessaiga, and only surviving due to the graces of Tenseiga. But he knew those were lucky shots and partially due to Sesshoumaru's continued underestimation of Inuyasha.

Bokusenou's face seemed to contort into a smirk. "Kukuku… maybe that's so." Bokusenou paused, again. "But Inuyasha is different. When pressed and his life is in danger, to protect himself, his Youkai blood controls his body and transforms it…"

Sesshoumaru thought back to his encounter with Inuyasha directly after his acquisition of Tokijin. '_So that's what happened then…_'

Bokusenou continued. "However the blood of a greater-Youkai Inuyasha inherited from your father is too strong for a Hanyou's body…

Sesshoumaru became intrigued; finally they were getting to the crux of the matter. Damn trees. "…What happens then?"

Bokusenou didn't pause this time but seemed contemplative. "Indeed… you could say his mind would be eaten away by his Youkai blood. He wouldn't recognise anybody. He'd kill enemies and friends alike. And after transforming repeatedly… Inuyasha's mind will be lost. He'll be reduced to a monster that just fights, and continues to fight until his body is destroyed. Your Father didn't want that to happen to Inuyasha of course. Which is precisely why… as a sword of protection, Inuyasha was given Tessaiga." Sesshoumaru paused for a moment and watched as the face and arm of the Bokusenou faded back into the trunk before he calmly walked off, followed closely by his 'entourage' of sorts.

---)(---

Naruto repressed a growl as Mizuki entered the room. Iruka the spoke up. "Right class, let's go outside to the Taijutsu training area."

Iruka led the way outside with Mizuki following closely behind, the class all got up and obediently followed, normally there would be a ruckus of some sort as Iruka wasn't there to make sure they behaved, having left the room first, but this was about their future as Ninja.

Naruto calmed down slightly as Mizuki's form left the room, he stood up as Chouji and Shikamaru needed him out of the way for them to get past. He walked along, following the crowd at a subdued pace, still conflicted and trying to keep himself calm.

Once everyone was outside they were lined up against the wall to wait until it was their turn. Iruka had a clip board with lots of sheets on, presumably one for each of the present students, and was currently telling everyone the rules.

Absently Naruto managed to catch the rules, no Chakra, no weapons, no claws – damn – they would be graded on speed, technique and power.

Iruka was about to call out Aburame Shino, because he was first in the alphabet, when Mizuki came up behind him, cupped his hand to Iruka's ear and whispered something. Iruka looked at Mizuki funny but sighed. "Fine. Since Uzumaki Naruto is new in class, Mizuki wants to test him before he gets tired, so we can have a more fair assessment of his abilities, as we already have a good idea of the abilities of the rest of the class." Iruka took the papers off his clipboard and quickly shuffled through the end until he found Naruto's. "Ah here we go. Okay Naruto when you're ready." Iruka gestured towards the field where Mizuki was standing but Naruto didn't hear him.

Naruto had been managing to contain his temper, he had had until almost all the fights were over to calm down and act rationally. A Ninja needed to be a master of their emotions, lest they be used against them in battle. However as Mizuki had been whispering to Iruka, so low that Naruto had missed it, Mizuki had looked over at Naruto. With his hand in the way it was impossible for Naruto to see his facial expression and they were too far away for him to be able to scent Mizuki's emotions but just being looked in the eye by one of those who had murdered him completely shattered Naruto's cool.

Naruto felt his Youki begin to boil within him, this time it had purpose and desire, it sounded like beautiful sirens singing the death of Mizuki, and like all men who hear the song of the sirens Naruto crashed upon the rocks. Immediately after Mizuki had stepped back from Naruto he had smirked at him. That was the last straw, at that time Naruto lost all perception of the world around him except for Mizuki, his prey.

Naruto's claws elongated sharply and the joints of his fingers began to crack as he flexed his joints, preparing them for the pressure they would be put under as they rent Mizuki asunder. His hair begun to ruffle, as it had grown quite a bit over the past nine months and was more easily caught by the wind. His robes began to billow out as well as all at once a rush of Youki began to rise from his body, like the steam coming from the Youki boiling within him. Naruto began to take measured steps. Forward toward Mizuki, who now looked decidedly unnerved, he had been expecting the same brat he had murdered before, he wasn't going to kill him but in this setting he had free reign to pummel the kid. Now he wasn't so sure.

As Naruto moved slowly toward Mizuki, the entire class and even Iruka were completely frozen by the feelings his aura invoked in them, feelings of being hunted, a kind of primal fear that wasn't crushing or overbearing but so deep-set that they couldn't repress it no matter how hard they tried.

A few steps further and Naruto's aura burned higher, increasing still. Naruto's eyes had long become deep red and were sharply slitted, he had lost almost all of his peripheral vision and all of his senses were honed upon Mizuki, once again he could hear the thunderous beat of his heart as it pumped his blood around his body. He could smell the sweat and the fear. The _fear_, Naruto savoured it, it smelt sweet and spurned him further, intending to produce so much more _fear_ from Mizuki before it ended.

Mizuki stepped back, definitely unnerved as the fear induced by Naruto's aura got to him. "Wh… What are you?" He stepped back further still.

Naruto's pace faltered. This man, this _murderer_ dared accuse him as if he were in the wrong. His aura flared further, burning over nine foot high and leaving burning scorch marks where his feet left the floor, however curiously leaving all his clothes in tact. Naruto would not let this man turn the tables; it was _he_ who was the monster, the murderer. "_Murderer_" It was quiet but with the deathly still over the training grounds, everyone heard it and they were all confused as to what it meant.

Mizuki, in one final bout of courage and defiance shouted back at Naruto, even whilst he back-peddled further. "IT'S NOT MURDER TO A DEMON!"

Immediately Naruto snarled and crouched down, his claws being brought back to his sides and his shoulders set to put all of his power into their swipes. But before he could launch himself forward, two masked figures appeared with a hand each on Mizuki's shoulders and promptly disappeared in a poof of smoke.

Naruto was furious; they were taking away his prey. On instinct alone he dashed to the spot they had previously occupied, the smoke of their departure still thick in the air. He not only smelt their scents but he scented, or maybe _felt_ their energies within the smoke. Either way he searched out with his senses, attempting to locate their location, he would have his prey. After only ten seconds of whirling about on the spot Naruto focused in the direction of the Hokage tower and snarled. All at once his body became enveloped in a light – almost white – luminescent orange glow before he looked to be only a ball of energy and then the light – Naruto – disappeared from view, travelling towards the Hokage tower at blinding speeds.

Once Naruto had left, Iruka turned to the class, having recovered from the shock and the fear much faster than they had. "Right well class, the ANBU will sort that out. I guess you'll have to put up with me for the Taijutsu evaluations. Now then, Shino, if you would please step forward?" Iruka put his clipboard down and waited in the field for Shino to collect himself and move forward. Iruka knew what was going on, he had suspected since he had seen Naruto staring so intently at Mizuki the entire time Naruto had been aware of his presence not only during the lead-up to their Taijutsu trials but also at the gathering nine months ago. Iruka liked Mizuki, they were close, but if Mizuki truly had participated in Naruto's murder then he would not mourn his death, for after having felt such an aura, Iruka knew, instinctively, that Mizuki's time was up.

---)(---

The two ANBU who had abducted – or rescued – Mizuki appeared in a large room at the Hokage tower, still each holding one arm on Mizuki's shoulders. Once they let go Mizuki shook slightly on his legs before turning to them. "What… Why am I here?"

The ANBU wearing a cat mask – the other wore a gorilla mask – answered. "Lord Hokage ordered that you be removed to this location should Naruto be agitated by your presence." He made no move to… well move, and neither did the ANBU in a gorilla mask. Mizuki decided he would be safe here, and quietly lamented his previous actions. Such a foolish thing to do.

Sarutobi had felt two of Naruto's ANBU guards enter the tower and immediately rushed down to ascertain what had transpired, he quickly entered the room to find the two ANBU still standing to attention and Mizuki looking rather shaken but unharmed. He was about to inquire as to what happened when a pale orange ball of light materialised through the wall at an alarming pace but immediately stopped before coalescing into the form of Naruto, as soon as the energy had dispersed, a fiery red aura erupted almost nine feet high from Naruto, causing his clothes and hair to billow as if in an upward wind, he slowly brought his right arm up so that his right claw was next to his left cheek, and brought his left arm back, so that it was ready for a swiping motion and he began to advance towards Mizuki. Immediately the two ANBU became alert and drew their weapons, though it seemed as if Naruto were unaware of their aggressive actions, Mizuki meanwhile turned and froze at the sight of Naruto, the whiskers on his cheeks were slowly but surely thickening into thick jagged black marks on each cheek. Sarutobi quickly decided that he could not interfere, not could his ANBU; his best option would be to diffuse the situation. "ANBU stand down!" Immediately the ANBU looked at Sarutobi before quickly sheathing their weapons and withdrawing to the sidelines, still ready for if they were needed.

Sarutobi quickly walked in front of Mizuki to stand between him and Naruto, it wasn't hard as Naruto was walking rather slowly, though in a definitely menacing manner. Quickly Sarutobi began to try and reason with him. "Naruto, please calm down. I'm sure we can work something out, it's no good to get worked up like this." By now Naruto was almost at Sarutobi. The aged man entertained the idea that he would listen but it seemed as if that were not to be as Naruto began to calmly walk around him.

As he passed Sarutobi only just made out the faint words, which came out almost as a growl rather than in Naruto's voice. "_Murderer_" Sarutobi sighed and stepped back, it was out of his hands now for he had promised that all of Naruto's murderers would die by either Sesshoumaru or Naruto's hand. Sarutobi noticed smoke to his side and quickly looked around, bringing his right arm up to move it away from any fire, however that only brought the fire closer to his face as the sleeve of his robes had at some point caught fire. Quickly patting the fire down until it was out Sarutobi reflected that it was that arm which Naruto had brushed past. Certainly that meant that just as Naruto had stipulated as a possibility, his Youki was indeed a lot like fire, though his own clothes, hair, shoes and were curiously un-fazed.

As Naruto passed the Hokage Mizuki began to back-peddle again, seeking to get away from Naruto, though as soon as he had gotten two metres Naruto tensed and lunged forward at remarkable speed and caught Mizuki by the throat with his right claw. Mizuki fell backwards under the forwards momentum Naruto still had and tried to scream, but with his airway blocked in such a manner nothing came out. Immediately both his hands came up and began to pull at Naruto's arm. As time stretched his hands started to claw furiously at Naruto's wrist, hoping, preying they he could somehow get the arm away, the red aura around Naruto's skin was only a thin film around his wrist but it was causing Mizuki severe burns. All off the damage Mizuki had managed to cause Naruto, the breaks in his skin and all healed up with remarkable speed, so much that the beginning of a wound was healed even as the end of it were still being gauged out of his flesh.

All at once the aura around Naruto flared and Naruto spoke. "**Die Murderer**." He dug his nails into Mizuki's neck from where they had been merely wrapped around, making cuts as they arced into his flesh until one of his fingers pierced Mizuki's Jugular vein and blood began to flow freely down his fingers, onto Mizuki and down to the floor. Naruto smiled with satisfaction as he could literally _feel_ the pulse of Mizuki's heart in the way the flow of blood slowed and quickened out of the wound. Mizuki's face was plastered in terror and a silent scream as he still continued trying to remove Naruto's hand from his throat. It lasted only a few seconds though until Mizuki's energy drained and he lost consciousness, though Naruto didn't let go until he could no longer hear the thump of Mizuki's heart.

Sarutobi watched on with a heavy heart, it painted him that Naruto had been turned into this, even if it weren't all of the time. But he also knew that it was Mizuki's own actions which had brought this about, he only hoped that with Mizuki gone Naruto wouldn't become like this again.

Once Naruto was satisfied that Mizuki was dead, he let go of his neck and he crumpled down to the floor in a heap. His flaring aura died down until it was nonexistent and his claws shrank, his eyes took longer but they too faded but the jagged marks on his face stayed in place. He looked down at Mizuki's body and the full implications of his actions – though he hadn't been unaware – came to him, this time however instead of backing away in horror, Naruto slowly brought his right arm up in front of his face and stared at it, almost in a trance. After a few long moments where nobody moved Naruto moved his claw to his nose and sniffed it tentatively, just to make sure, but it was true. The scent of Mizuki's blood was a pleasing one to him. Unlike blood he had smelt before which was worrying or slightly annoying to his nose, this scent was very pleasing to him. It was because it smelt like a stronger, coppery version of Mizuki's normal scent, which he had scented in the clearing where he had been murdered. His Youki was dancing about within him, trying to push upon him feelings of satisfaction and pride in his revenge, but rather than resisting, it seemed to not matter. He just felt rather detached from the whole situation. He could remember clearly every detail of what had happened from when he had willingly given himself over to his instincts and his Youki, even a lot of the actions had been his own rather than any instinctual actions. Originally he would have shredded Mizuki with his claws but he decided, on his own, that it would be more satisfying to see Mizuki's face slowly drain of life. He was right, it was satisfying and that fact didn't scare him, nor did it please him. He still felt detached about the whole thing.

Sarutobi walked towards Naruto slowly and placed a hand on Naruto's shoulder. Initially Naruto made no movement but after a moment he turned to Sarutobi with what Sarutobi identified as mild shock upon his features, as if he knew what had happened and understood it but it hadn't sunk in yet. He looked from Sarutobi to his claws and back before asking something he really needed to know. "Old man… It felt good, killing Mizuki. His blood smells satisfying, not like other blood…" Naruto paused and looked again down to his claw as if the answers were held within the blood that still coated it. "Am I a monster, Old man?"

Sarutobi had been expecting something like this, and had the appropriate response. "Well Naruto, that all depends upon your own actions. Today you took revenge for your own Murder, something nobody can begrudge you. If you leave it at that, or perhaps those who are truly evil then you are not a monster but someone to be looked upon with pride." Naruto continued to stare at his claw, he could smell the old man was telling the truth – or rather he couldn't smell a lie – and so he attempted to process the words he had said, but even though it made sense, it wasn't making any connections as of yet.

Naruto looked back to Sarutobi. "Thanks Old Man."

Sarutobi realised that Naruto wasn't quite ready to handle the Academy yet, especially as he had likely made some flashy exit if his entrance into the tower were any indication. He decided Naruto didn't really need whatever lessons or tests they were running and their time would be spent better relaxing and perhaps talking about what had happened. "Would you like to go back home, Naruto? Perhaps have some lunch; it is about that time after all."

Naruto looked up at the Hokage and smiled. "Yeah, sure. That would be nice." He tried to smile, but it didn't work and so he gave up.

Sarutobi led Naruto out of the large room, behind his back signalling for the remaining ANBU to arrange for the room to be cleaned up. On their way out ten ANBU of various sizes, shapes and animal representations appeared in a circle around Sarutobi and Naruto. Deciding it would be good to release the tension in the air Sarutobi commented. "Ah, you missed it. Ten points for effort though." With that he continued to lead Naruto along. Pausing for a moment Sarutobi made a Shadow clone and sent it up to his office to continue with the paperwork. Of course it wouldn't likely last long enough to get it all done, but it would do for now. The problem was once the clone dispelled he would receive many hours of memories of tedious paperwork all at once, a headache if ever he had one, for sure. The ANBU still standing at the entrance of the room stood around in a slight daze, unsure what to do now, though they eventually left to continue their previous tasks.

---)(---

After the class had rather awkwardly gotten through the Taijutsu assessment for the morning Iruka led them back to the classroom. He gave them a quick quiz to do whilst he finished marking down the results of their assessments; this was why they had two people to do them.

Of course Iruka was no fool and he knew that the chances of anyone paying attention to the quiz he had given them were slim. He could hear the mutterings and whisperings throughout the classroom about what had transpired earlier. Deciding that he would need to do something Iruka stood up and caught the attention of the class. "Okay class, I know you're all curious about what happened earlier." The class went deathly silent, evidently they were and they expected some information. "I can't tell you everything but I'll tell you that nine months ago, when Naruto's bloodline activated he… he experienced something very traumatic and from the events earlier, it would seem Mizuki was at the heart of it. Now the ANBU will have taken Mizuki to the Hokage tower and Lord Hokage himself will likely have sorted this mess out." Iruka paused and looked around the room. "So, please continue with your work."

---)(---

Once they returned back to Sarutobi's house he and Naruto sat down at the kitchen table as one of his servants prepared them some lunch. Deciding it would probably be better to ease towards the emotional areas of the events from earlier Sarutobi asked about the least emotional events. "Well then, how about we start with that technique you used to follow the ANBU and Mizuki? That was rather impressive if I do say so myself."

Naruto who was sat down, still looking at his claw even though it was now spotless and didn't even smell of blood anymore looked up towards Sarutobi. "Uh well, I'm not sure. When the ANBU disappeared, and I was still really angry and my Youki was _boiling_ I… well… It was like I needed to be wherever he was and running just wasn't good enough… so instead of running I sort of instinctively channelled my Youki around myself, like a layer… and once I had it engulfed me and I followed Mizuki's scent." Naruto then looked back at his claw.

Sarutobi stroked his beard in thought. "Hmm I see. So then you were still able to use your senses, even when you had turned into energy?"

Naruto looked up again. "Well I don't know about being turned into energy… but I could use my senses fine."

Sarutobi countered immediately. "Ah but you were able to pass through two walls to reach the room Mizuki was in, I doubt you would be able to do so unless you had in fact somehow become incorporeal."

Naruto looked confused. "Incor… what?"

Sarutobi smiled, obviously Naruto wouldn't know such a word, why would he? "Ah sorry, something not physical, that can't be touched or moved. Even air can be moved but chakra for instance can only be moved by the mind."

Naruto made an 'o' shape with his mouth, understanding mostly what was said. "Wow, that's pretty neat. Though I doubt I'll be able to do that again for a while."

Sarutobi nodded. "Yes, well it'd good to have a clear goal to work towards, plus you had wanted to be able to use such an ability, at least you now know you're capable, and what you need to do with your Youki to achieve it."

Naruto nodded and grinned, his right hand, previously slack, tightened into a fist. "Right Old Man!"

Sarutobi smiled before becoming serious, there was still much to discuss. "Now Naruto, would you mind telling me what happened at the Academy?"

Naruto again looked at his claw as he spoke. "Well I… When I heard Mizuki's name I… It made me mad that he was still teaching people, living life as if nothing had happened, then I saw him smiling at the class and it made me even madder." Naruto took a calming breath before he continued. "I tried to calm myself down, we were going to go in order, so I'd almost be last. That would've probably been enough time for me to calm down and go through my assessment but instead Mizuki went up to Iruka and whispered to him something." Naruto's right claw clenched in front of him. "He looked at me, I didn't see his facial expression or smell anything from him because he was too far away but I just _knew_ he was targeting me. It made me even more mad… how _dare_ he think to hurt me _again_. I mean, that monster's _gone_ right? So he has no reason." Naruto took more than one calming breath and slowly relaxed his fist, noting with morbid fascination that he had stabbed his palm with his claws but that the wounds were already healed and only a tiny amount of blood remained which hadn't been re-absorbed by the healing. He continued. "Iruka agreed to whatever he said to him and called me up first. Mizuki just stood in the training field smiling like an idiot, as if he had just won some prize. At that point I lost it… well sort of. My Youki was _boiling_ and it wasn't calling but it was more like it was _singing_ some strange wordless song about Mizuki's death. I just gave in, I wanted him dead too, why bother fighting it?" Naruto looked at Sarutobi, to see if he looked disappointed or scared or something, but the old man merely looked deep in thought.

Noticing that Naruto had apparently stopped before the part where he had arrived to the tower, he decided to gently probe for more details. "Ah then Naruto, were you in some way out of control of your actions, or were your emotions being fuelled somehow?"

Naruto shook his head slowly, again focusing on his claw. "No… not really I… it was like my instincts were telling me what to do or how to do it, and telling me how satisfying it would be but it was still me who was following the directions. Though I think my eyes changed again, and my ears got better, I could hear his heart beat and see the ripples in the skin on his neck from his pulse." Naruto took in a shuddering breath and carried on. "I walked towards him, I actually felt like running at him but I had this instinctual urge to walk slowly, as if I were hunting him, which I suppose I was, so I went with it. And suddenly those masked guys came and took him off." Naruto looked at Sarutobi before continuing. "At that point I ran to where they were and figured out where they went and, well, I already told you about the energy thing."

Sarutobi nodded, still stroking his beard. "Ah yes, that you did. Most intriguing I must say. Tell me Naruto, did you notice any boost to your physical abilities, strength or speed? Or perhaps were your abilities to heal enhanced?"

Naruto was expecting some form of questioning about his emotional state, whether he would be liable to attack anyone again, he guessed it would come in time. "Ah… Okay um… well I think when I lunged at Mizuki and held his throat, I don't think I can normally move that fast, plus his attempts to move my arm seemed really weak." Naruto paused and thought, images of Mizuki's neck leaking spurts of blood which ran down his hands, the feeling of the satisfying warmth as it washed over his hand in waves, the feeling of someone's life force flushing away through his fingers. But he concentrated and remembered Mizuki's attempts to claw at his wrist. "Ah um… when Mizuki was trying to get my arm off, he ripped out some of my skin with his nails, some fairly long bits but they all healed really _really_ fast. The long tears were healed half-way before he had finished making them. Why Old Man? Is it important?"

Sarutobi sat in thought for a few moments before looking at Naruto. "Well Naruto, from my knowledge of demonic energies and their interaction with humans, they have a tendency to overwhelm the person's mind and body if the levels get too high. I'm not sure but I had expected something similar to happen if you were to become overwhelmed with your Youki but it appears that is not the case. Perhaps because your body is now able to use Youki and because you have such strong healing abilities then perhaps your Youki would overwhelm you but as the levels rise, it's strengthening and healing effect on your body strengthens your body against the overwhelming effects, meaning you don't lose yourself or incur damage." Sarutobi paused for a minute, letting Naruto digest all that information, whilst also thinking upon it. "Of course, this is pure conjecture. Perhaps your demonic heritage has nullified such effects of demonic energy upon you, or at least your own demonic energy… in any case this is indeed good news."

Naruto looked at Sarutobi confused. "It is? You mean because I won't get killed by my Youki?"

Sarutobi smiled. "Ah yes, that too but what I meant was that this affirms my earlier statement. You are not a monster, not will you involuntarily become one. Even if your instincts wish to guide you to kill people or do wrong, you will always have that choice and it is the choice, not your body or your heritage, which determines whether you are a man or a monster." Sarutobi paused and decided he would go get his pipe, he had been cutting back, only smoking at the Hokage tower so as to protect Naruto's nose, but he wouldn't be at the Hokage tower until tomorrow now and he'd had rather a scare earlier. Perhaps they could enjoy the garden, that way the breeze would spare Naruto's nose somewhat. "Naruto remember this. The demons of this world are known to kill whatever they encounter, but they never torture or hurt outside of their natural actions. Humans however torture, murder, rape, steal… Humans truly can be the cruelest of all creatures. But of course we can be the kindest, the bravest, we can heal, befriend those who are lonely, save those in peril. It is the choice of how you act Naruto, which will truly determine what you are."

Sarutobi sat back and smiled, definitely proud of his little speech, he had made that up on the fly too! Perhaps he should write it down, or at least a summary, that was some good shit. Naruto seemed to be convinced, his eyes had more of a sparkle to them now and he had stopped staring at his claw. "Right Old Man… thanks."

Sarutobi smiled. "Of course, Naruto. Now then, do you fancy sitting out in the garden with me? It is a rather nice day don't you think?"

Naruto seemed to pick up that he had an ulterior motive but left it. He soon found out that the Hokage had been planning to have a smoke; he decided to practice trying to turn into energy, up-wind from Sarutobi. Of course there was little success but it was early days… er… day, yet!

---)(---

After the Academy had let out, Sakura and Ino had – for once – not followed Sasuke and they had gone back to Ino's house, because her father was away on a mission and her mother would be minding the shop for a while, so they could chatter in peace. They had decided they better not talk about what had happened in public lest the Hokage find out they had been spreading rumours or something. It was unlikely but they were wary enough as it was that it seemed like a logical thing to do. After entering the flower shop and exchanging pleasantries with Ino's mom they had scurried off up to Ino's room to discuss past events.

Once they were settled down Sakura began, eager to get her worries off her chest. "Ino, you know that time when that white haired man was at the Academy with the Hokage?" Ino nodded. "You know what you said about how he looked at me, was it anything like what Naruto looked like earlier?"

Ino thought about it for a while, but the memory was fairly clear, as memories often were for times of high emotion. This emotion was fear. "I'm not sure, it was really the front of his face and Naruto was turned from us. His eyes went red and his fangs elongated… oh and those purple slashes on his cheeks became jagged."

Sakura looked a bit more at ease. "So you don't think it was the same?"

Ino shrugged. "I dunno, I mean I was pretty much fixated on that aura Naruto was giving off. The white haired man didn't give off any aura. What do you think that was anyway?"

Sakura almost shivered at the memory, it had scared her deeply, not thoroughly, but the fear was definitely deep. "I dunno, but whatever it was made me feel like I was standing behind some predator like a lion, hoping it didn't turn around."

Ino nodded solemnly. "Yeah, it wasn't all that scary but it was like you said, like being hunted."

Sakura gaped at Ino. "What do you mean 'not all that scary'?! Are you mad? How was that _not_ scary?"

Ino shook her head. "No, it _was_ scary, but if that felt like being behind a predator hoping it doesn't turn around then how scary would it feel if it were like the predator turned around and stared at you as if you were lunch." Ino did shiver at that thought.

Sakura paled when she imagined the feeling. "Yeah…"

Ino got over the tingles she had induced in herself from her imagination and tried to get back on topic. "So… what? Are you scared of Naruto now?"

Sakura just looked down at Ino's bed sheets rather than replying. "Oh my god, you are! Come _on_ this is _Naruto_. Apart from the fact he's loved you since we started the academy he's like completely harmless!" Ino paused for a moment, she had been about to say the chances of him passing graduation were slim to nil, but then she remembered he was the reason for her own guaranteed graduation. Somehow she hadn't associated Naruto with the memory of herself being graduated and had only remembered herself and Shikamaru. She decided it was because he up and disappeared for nine months or so, that kind of thing makes you harder to remember.

Whilst she was thinking Sakura composed herself and responded. "Well I don't think he does anymore, I mean remember what happened at lunch yesterday? He didn't seem to care."

Ino thought about it, her lips pursed. "Yeah well, maybe he's realised that Sasuke is so much hotter than he is and he's gotten over it?" Ino frightfully believed that her assertion could really be the reason behind Naruto seeming to have given up on Sakura. "You know he has some awesome sense of smell now, maybe Sasuke even smells hotter?"

Sakura pushed down her urge to remind Ino that it was _her_ Sasuke, since that would be detrimental to their conversation. "I doubt it, that's not a very Naruto thing to do, he's a bit too dense for anything like that."

Ino raised her eyebrow at that. "I dunno Sakura, I mean that stuff he said to Kiba was pretty deep."

Sakura thought but couldn't remember anything but talking about smells. "What? I thought they were only talking about smelling stuff, being able to smell lies is pretty creepy but I don't think it counts a deep."

Ino rapidly shook her head. "No no no not that, the stuff about whether it's better to know when someone's lying to you or not."

Sakura thought about it. "Nah I don't see it, I mean what possible down side could there be to something like that?"

Ino persisted. "No, think about it. Imagine if Naruto really did still love you or whatever it was nine months ago and then at lunch he finds out, without a shadow of a doubt that he doesn't have a chance. Wouldn't that suck? Like seriously."

Sakura looked slightly incredulously at Ino. "Come on, he _never_ had a chance, I _told_ him enough times."

Ino thought for a while. "Yeah but you know how optimistic he is… plus think of the way everyone seems to hate him, might have thought you were just saying that so that they didn't hate you too or something."

Sakura raised her eyebrow. "What? Who'd hate someone for something like that? He probably played pranks on them or something."

Ino shook her head. "Come on Sakura, most of the village? You think he managed to pull pranks on nearly everyone in the village?"

Sakura faltered at that. "Okay so maybe not. But what then?"

Ino shook her head. "I don't know. Maybe it has something to do with this 'traumatic' event that Mizuki was part of."

Sakura nodded. "Yeah, hey what do you think happened to him? I mean you don't think Naruto would've tried to kill him do you? Plus isn't Mizuki like the top fighter from the Academy staff? He wouldn't lose to an academy student would he?"

Ino thought about it. "I don't know Sakura… I mean if he really has the same types of abilities as that white haired man and that man is supposed to be as strong as the Hokage… then maybe?" Ino thought for a moment. "I guess we'll find out at the academy tomorrow."

After a moment Sakura thought of something. "Hey Ino, if Naruto really has gotten that good that he might be able to take on Mizuki then how do you think he'll do in the graduation exams?" Sakura became slightly flustered. "You don't think he'd beat Sasuke do you?"

Ino thought about that, but remembering back not only to what she had learned from the Hokage but also what the Hokage had said to their class when Naruto had returned. "No, I don't think so. Didn't the Hokage say he had already tested Naruto? So he won't be taking the exams will he?"

Sakura calmed down. "Yeah, point. Besides it's not as if he's going to be stronger than Sasuke is it? I mean he is an _Uchiha_." Sakura looked slightly dreamy.

Ino smirked. "Yeah, definitely no way. And don't forget Sakura that he's _my_ Uchiha!"

From there the two girls began to argue over the stoic prodigy of their class, eventually ending in Sakura once again storming away from Ino. Afterwards, once Ino's anger had faded she felt slightly empty, was it worth it to lose her best friend like that over some guy? But then she remembered how it had been Sakura who had ended their friendship, who had thrown Ino's kindness back at her. Sure they still talked and gossiped but they had never been the same close best friends they had been before Sasuke.

Ino absently wondered if Sakura would end up on Sasuke's team, it would probably be much harder to win Sasuke for herself if she was on a team with someone Sasuke didn't like, someone who didn't like Sasuke and Sakura was actually _on_ his team.

Momentarily she resented Naruto for taking away her opportunity at being on Sasuke's team, though when she thought about it she decided she would most likely have been put on Shikamaru and Chouji's team, replicating their father's combination. She sighed, she would still win Sasuke, billboard brow was definitely not going to win.

---)(---

The next day at the Academy Naruto was more reserved than usual. Though it might have been because that day they were doing preliminary tests in Ninjutsu, something Naruto was incapable of now. They – well Iruka since Mizuki hadn't turned up for classes that day – were testing the students on their ability with the Transformation technique, a surprisingly simple technique which was able to transform the body into something else. The standard uses were to look like someone else, though you could transform into most things as long as they weren't too big or too small. The further you deviated from your original size or density the more chakra was required, the requirements increased exponentially, so that no-one below Chuunin-grade Chakra levels could transform into something such as a Shuriken or a Kunai.

On a side note, the Rank-grade system for describing a Ninja's abilities came about at the same time as the Chuunin exams were invented, the theory was that applicants for the Chuunin exams should display a minimum level of ability in each area of being a Ninja; these minimums were known as Chuunin level of ability. As such the theory was that anyone who entered the exam and especially anyone who passed would have Chuunin-level or above abilities in every aspect of being a Ninja. Of course such standards had quickly slipped, Villages often favoured Chakra capacity, Taijutsu and Ninjutsu abilities for applicants to the Chuunin exams. Things such as stealth, strategic ability, Genjutsu and so forth were given less importance. The reason for this was because the final tournament for the Chuunin exams was a display of combat prowess, now whilst every single aspect of being a Ninja could be applied to combat, Genjutsu for instance was highly effective in combat if the user was able to make it un-breakable to the victim or if the victim didn't notice. However because this tournament was observed by many rich and potential clients to the participating villages, the villages wished to impress them and things such as Ninjutsu and Taijutsu were the most impressive and obvious displays of skill and fighting prowess, even if something such as stealth and Genjutsu would make most actual _Ninja_ missions far easier, as combat could be entirely avoided, for instance the theft of an artefact.

Due to his inability to perform the Transformation technique Naruto had merely sat on the sidelines whilst everyone lined up and performed it in turn. Then had to sit through lectures by Iruka about uses for the Transformation technique for the rest of the day. Naruto had spent most of the day staring at his right hand, or claw, depending on who you asked what it was. Sasuke had made the comment that Naruto had no chance to be a Ninja and should just quit if he wasn't even capable of such a basic skill as the Transformation technique, most likely trying to regain superiority after not only Naruto's impressive show of skill during the first lunch period of the week but his display of power and ability to strike fear into even Sasuke's heart the day before.

Naruto had initially ignored him but once Ino had agreed with him Naruto had deigned to rebuke. "Can't Transform, can't be fooled by the Transformation." Simple and to the point reply. Sasuke had inquired as to how Naruto could make such a bold statement, Naruto had replied that Chakra was far easier to smell than lies, not to mention that you couldn't just remove your scent by changing your shape and colour. Sasuke had backed down after that and left him alone, his fans doing the same.

On the other side of the class Kiba had stared at Naruto after his comment. He himself couldn't smell Chakra, but Akamaru could, so could most of the dog partners of his clan. Akamaru had a surprising talent in smelling Chakra that surpassed most of the other dogs of their clan, but Naruto was claiming such a thing came easily to him. Kiba believed him too, because he had asked his mom about being able to smell lies, she had looked at him incredulously, as if he were insane and had said as much. When he responded that Naruto said he could and seemed to be able to prove his ability she had become very serious. He didn't know that she was remembering how the white haired demon had shown such ability nine months ago; he chalked her seriousness up to what she said next, that it was a unique ability, one they would never likely acquire. He had asked how Naruto had come by his abilities and his response had been that she couldn't tell him and also that if he found out, he would probably have been happier not knowing. That comment had unnerved Kiba greatly and had caused him to lose focus the entire day as he was lost in thought about it and Naruto in general.

At lunch time Naruto had disappeared, which was lucky for him – or intentional – because once again his class had congregated to look for him, this time to find out what had happened to Mizuki the previous day. They decided as a group to catch Naruto before he escaped after school later that day and find out.

At the end of class, before Naruto could walk out Iruka went up to him and put a hand on his shoulder and squeezed gently and smiled. He then patted Naruto's shoulder a couple of times in what seemed to be a reassuring gesture before heading out to finish grading and to prepare the next days tests, nobody in the class realised he hadn't spoken so as to avoid putting Naruto in an awkward position with the class. After they were let out of the academy Naruto had attempted to make a hasty retreat however this time the now organised members of Naruto's class caught him before he could exit the academy grounds. In the wake of Kiba's usual brash attitude, which seemed to be lacking today; Ino was the one who ended up confronting Naruto. "Okay Naruto, what happened yesterday? Where's Mizuki?"

Naruto stared at Ino, long and hard and it greatly unnerved her but since she had all of her classmates behind her she felt emboldened and didn't back down. Naruto looked at each of his classmates before resigning himself. He might as well tell them, if they couldn't lie to him it was a bit unfair of him to lie to them. Plus he didn't feel like standing around and dealing with them right now, if he shocked them he figured he would have a window of opportunity for escape, he'd probably feel up to dealing with them tomorrow. "I killed him."

Ino did step back this time. "Wh… What?!" The rest of their class also seemed shocked and let Ino step back into their ranks and avoid being so easily singled out.

Kiba, though only moments ago he had been stuck in his thoughts still, immediately forgot them and his brash attitude came back to the forefront. As such he reacted verbally first. "What do you mean you killed him?! Why would you kill him?"

Naruto sighed, he felt like looking down to the floor but adamantly refused, instead he looked off to the side, deciding a rather fine looking tree would be an adequate focus for his attention to keep it away from them. "He was a murderer."

Kiba immediately shot back another question. "Well then who the hell did he murder?" Naruto snapped his head back to Kiba and glared at him, this was none of their damn business. Quickly regaining his composure Naruto decided he was getting agitated too easily at the moment and it would be best to just leave the area and so he took a moment to coil the muscles in his legs and ready his Youki before he jumped clear over the group, with the aid of two mid-air jumps he easily sailed out of the remnants of the Academy grounds and across the street to be on the roof of the nearest building, wherefrom he immediately jumped in the direction of the Hokage's house, intent on avoiding the villagers as well at the moment, lest his temper flare again.

Everyone in the group stared in shock at where Naruto had jumped off to. His rather shocking emotional reaction had caught them all off guard, though thinking back it was to be expected. If he had gotten so angry at Mizuki then obviously whoever was murdered was close to him. Even though he was the one subject to the glare Kiba was the first to recover and comment. "Damn I wish I could do that." Akamaru barked in agreement, affirming that it was a cool ability.

Shikamaru shook his head. "Troublesome." Then walked off back home. Sasuke and Shino meandered off silently, seemingly unaffected by the entire affair.

Hinata took up her usual spot under one of the trees to wait for the escort from her family to come and pick her up. Ino and Sakura wandered off their separate ways, Kiba following Ino's lead, as he lived in her general direction and Chouji following after Shikamaru whilst eating some crisps.

---)(---

Naruto had basically cooled off once he had reached the Hokage's house, the feeling of freedom as he jumped through the air coupled with the feeling of the air as he pushed through it, the resistance ruffling his hair and his clothes, made him feel alive and free and easily sapped away at his tension.

When he landed just outside the front door, having jumped from a roof across the street, the momentum of his flight caused his now almost shoulder-length hair to whip forwards and fall over his face. Taking a moment and extra care of his claws as he wiped it out of his face Naruto pondered on what he should do about it.

Normally he didn't like long hair; it took more effort to look after and got dirty more easily, not to mention it held the dirt more firmly than short hair. However dirt was no longer a problem, not only that but even after he had become rather dirty during his training his hair had seemed impervious to the dirt, always staying glossy and smooth and dirt-free. Naruto had figured it was some Youkai thing and since it hadn't gotten dirty he didn't bother getting it cut, because he was busy training, no need for a hair cut. But now he was trying to look good, look regal and composed like Sesshoumaru did. Sesshoumaru's hair was very… _very_ long, it was like down to his thighs, and he was over six feet tall. Naruto didn't think such long hair would go on him, especially since it was already being annoying. Naruto decided he would get it cut at some point so a length just short enough so that it didn't get into his eyes and have the back cut so that it didn't wave around so much. The hair on the top of his head was almost managing to still be spiky so it would likely stick out in all directions once the weight upon it had lessened, this would be good because then it would put itself back how it's supposed to be under the same force which kept it spiky, plus he figured his hair might look a bit like the Fourth Hokage like that, which was always a bonus. He had overheard Ino and Sakura gushing over the picture in their text book when they had learned about the Fourth Hokage and how he had saved their village from the Kyuubi. Though that had been almost two years ago now, he still remembered thinking that it would be nice if he could get attention in that way, especially from Sakura. Naruto snorted, as if that would happen. But still it would be nice to get attention in that way from anyone; he still couldn't fathom why Sasuke ignored all his admirers.

Once he opened the door he noticed that the Hokage's scent was fresher than it normally would be if it had been decaying since that morning, which meant he was there. "Hey Old Man, what you doing back so early?" Naruto called out to the house even as he wandered to the kitchen to get a snack.

Sarutobi was actually in the kitchen having a brunch type meal, only between lunch and dinner… a dinunch… Lunner… but those were crap names so he called it brunch two. He looked up as he heard Naruto enter the house and call out to him, obviously having scented him or heard the sound of his munching. "Ah Naruto, how was the Academy today?"

Naruto shrugged as he went towards the fruit bowl for an apple. He had become surprisingly fond of fruit since he had… died. But he gave it no real thought; they were healthy after-all. "It was okay." Naruto bit into the apple before asking something. "Say, how come you're back so early?"

Sarutobi looked up from his brunch-two, which was made of soup and some bread, nothing too heavy because he was going to be dealing with a lot of stress later in the day. "Ah yes, I have a meeting with the Council later today, so I finished early to get some food in before it begins.

Naruto nodded, since his mouth was full and as such – as he had learned from Sarutobi during his stay there – it would be rude to talk. Once he was done he asked another question. "Say, can I get a hair cut?"

Sarutobi waited a moment to answer as he drank the last bits of soup from his bowl and put it down with a contented sigh. "Ahh." A pause. "Hmm I do have some free time until the meeting starts, how about I come with you?" He smiled at Naruto as he got up from the table. "So how do you want it cut?" He asked as he began to lead Naruto out of the house.

Naruto grabbed the front bits of his hair. "Well this bit got in my face earlier so…" Naruto described how he wanted his hair in minute detail on their way to a close-by barber. Sarutobi smiling and nodding as they went, he did so enjoy such carefree activities.

---)(---

After Naruto had his hair cut, just as he had thought about earlier, with the back trimmed so that it didn't touch his collar and all the hair around the top of his head shortened so that it wouldn't obscure his face, nor would it for a while, and so that it did spike up as predicted. The hair at the sides of his head had also been trimmed, though less so than the back, so that it seemed to want to spike up, well down in this case, but couldn't quite manage as it was too short so instead generally stuck down, making a nice compliment to the spikes on the top of the side of his head which protruded sideways. Naruto also got his wish that his hair did look reasonably like the Fourth Hokage's, though definitely shorter; the general effect was the same. Sarutobi was caught in a bit of melancholy as the appearance reminded him of the Fourth. But he was unable to linger for long. "Ah Naruto, it is about time I went to the meeting." Sarutobi sighed.

Naruto looked at Sarutobi as he sighed. "Old Man, don't you like those meetings? Aren't they important?"

Sarutobi sighed again. "Yes Naruto, they are indeed important however they are also often the arena for the political machinations of the members of the council. It is… frustrating dealing with them."

Naruto paused for a moment. "Hey I know, want me to come with you?" Sarutobi raised an eyebrow in question. "I could tell you if anyone's lying." Naruto tapped the side of his nose. "Whadaya say Old Man?"

Sarutobi briefly mused that only a year ago in such a situation Naruto would've been shouting, pleading and begging. He also would've most likely sighted that he should go to meetings since one day he would be the Hokage and so it would be good practice, Sarutobi mourned the loss of such a Naruto, even though he much preferred interacting with Naruto in a way which didn't lead to shouting and running around, that he could live without, though he would still miss everything else. "Ah, if you're sure Naruto, I don't see why not. Though it will be terribly boring."

Naruto shrugged it off. "Ah how boring can it be?" Sarutobi smirked, if only he knew.

---)(---

Naruto was bored _bored_. He was so bored that he had taken the time to analyse his boredom and categorise it was more bored than bored, so he had taken the time to re-categorize his own situation of boredom into bored bored. The way it sounded when you said bored twice in a bored voice, really did add to the effect he had thought. Now however he had since long passed bored bored and was into bored _bored_ where even the act of emphasising one of the words, even in his own mind, became significantly entertaining. Of course it wasn't _bored_ bored, nor was it _bored bored_ for Naruto knew instinctively that both of these names were lame and as such he shunned them mentally '_Shuuuun_'. He really lamented his offer.

The meeting had been going on for around four hours now and all that had happened were reports of important missions, reports of treaties, various trade agreements with various trading people for… stuff. Basically they were organising running the entire village, there was no political intrigue, no lies, just bored _boredom_.

Naruto was currently standing to Sarutobi's right and behind him, in the position a guard might stand. He had long ago decided he was thankful for being able to heal, or for having a better body… whichever it was which caused him to not cramp up or ache or anything from standing still in one position for _so damn long_. When they had first entered he had felt angry stares from the occupants of the room, though they were somewhat muted in the presence of Sarutobi, for they had come to know how forceful and unrelenting he could be on the subject of Naruto, especially now he had ample reason to be so where he had none before. Of course Naruto didn't know that and had just chalked it up to fear of being reprimanded by him or something. Now however, four hours later Naruto decided he kind of missed the angry stares or stares at all. At least they gave him something to think about, even if they were angry thoughts, he might be reduced to bored bored, or even if he was stared at for a while, just bored! Oh what joy that might be, though he couldn't quite decide, since he would be angry-bored which may have distinct detrimental connotations of its own. Just as Naruto had decided to downgrade himself to bored bored as thinking about the stares had been _something_ and as such he wasn't as bored as before… the meeting shifted onto Ninja topics. Most Ninja administration was handled at the Hokage tower, however anything of particular sensitivity or which would not be passing through the standard channels of administration. Naruto didn't notice this transition however and continued with his internal debate about the merits of angry-boredom versus boredom boredom.

That was until however he smelt the scent of deception permeating the air. Quickly he snapped to attention and looked around the room, quickly pinpointing the source of the scent as the same as the source of all sound in the room at the moment. "… additional time to collect data on their activities, Lord Hokage." It was faint, but Naruto smelt it. He nudged Sarutobi's robes, Sarutobi made no outward reaction to the slight touch, and it appeared as if nobody in the room had noticed.

However Sarutobi had noticed and acted upon the signal, probing into the subject, to uncover the lie. "Ah would you mind specifying exactly upon whom you are spying please?"

This was unusual, generally it was a sign of trust from the Hokage – Sarutobi – to allow the head of the ANBU, who he was presently talking to, to conduct the most top-secret or information-sensitive operations with their own discretion and report upon their findings at the end of the mission. The reasons for this were twofold, one could never be too careful, but also there were one or two civilian council members within the room and as such the chances of an information leak were much greater, for the civilians could not guard against being used for spying, not were they likely to hold up to torture in the same was the Ninja of the council could. "Lord Hokage, this matter is quite sensitive, I assure you that I…"

Sarutobi cut the man off. "Danzou." It was only his name, but it said all, he would be expecting this man, Danzou, the head of the ANBU, to answer his question.

"Ah yes, as you wish. There have been recent movements by some S-ranked missing-ninja, one of whom we believe to be Orochimaru." Danzou left it at that, obviously Sarutobi could understand what he was saying.

Once again Naruto smelt the faint scent of deception and once again he nudged Sarutobi as covertly as possible. Sarutobi heeded his message and continued to probe. "Ah so then am I to assume your spies you have mentioned are focused on this group?"

Danzou didn't make any outward reaction but inwardly he was seething, how dare Sarutobi treat him with such disrespect, and in front of the entire council! Not only that but how _dare_ he catch him out! Well Danzou was not caught _yet_. "Of course Lord Hokage."

At this point the scent of deception grew so that it was unmistakable and the man was definitely lying. Naruto prodded Sarutobi a few times until he turned to regard Naruto. All Naruto did was one shake of the head in what seemed to be a rather solemn 'no' gesture. Sarutobi turned back to Danzou and continued. "No Danzou, you shall not proceed any further with whatever operation it is you have planned."

Danzou immediately stood up outraged. "WHAT! Sarutobi What is the _meaning_ of this!?"

Sarutobi was instantly stood, both his hand slamming forcefully upon the table in front of him, shocking everyone in the room except Naruto, who could smell the anger coming from him and as such had expected some sort of reaction, for you had to do _something_ when you were _that_ angry. "_Silence_. Your deception has been caught Danzou, be grateful I do not have you executed where you stand." The members of the council all looked shocked and immediately turned to look at Danzou, who seemed to be paling under his extensive bandages. Sarutobi made an odd hand-movement with his left hand and an ANBU in cat or tiger mask, if the stripes were any indication, appeared to Sarutobi's left side, mirroring Naruto's position. Without acknowledging his presence, still focusing on Danzou, Sarutobi addressed the man. Tenzou, I have a mission for you. You will be monitoring all of Danzou's activity and reporting directly to me. I trust you can handle this assignment."

The ANBU to Sarutobi's left bowed slightly. "Of course Lord Hokage."

Sarutobi took his eyes from Danzou and swept them across the meeting room. "Now then, if that is all?" Nobody moved. "Very well, this meeting is adjourned." Without waiting for a response Sarutobi walked briskly from the room, only just keeping a lid on his temper. Naruto followed after him, completely relieved of any state of boredom he had been in before wiped away by the preceding events.

---)(---

As they walked back to Sarutobi's house basking in the glow of the sunset as it shone above the buildings, Sarutobi allowed himself to relax, Naruto's presence and humorous antics easing his tension greatly.

Naruto seemed oblivious to Sarutobi's musings as he continued. "And then BAM!" Naruto slammed both his hands down on an imaginary table as he walked. "And then that guy was like…" Naruto lowered his arms and widened his eyes as far as he could to show comical surprise. "And then you were like MASKED MAN SPY ON HIM!" Here Naruto pointed dramatically as if he were ordering someone about. "And he was like YESSIR!" Here Naruto saluted and straightened his spine, right hand up to his brow in a salute, his other hand at his side rigid. "And then everyone in the room was like…" Naruto slackened and drooped his posture and let his mouth hand open.

Sarutobi chuckled. "Yes, I suppose it was quite 'cool'." He paused as Naruto turned to him and nodded enthusiastically. "I must thank you Naruto, not only have you helped stop whatever that man was plotting." Sarutobi's facial expression hardened momentarily, before he shook it off. "But also you've helped me show the council what will happen if they are disloyal."

Naruto nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah! You totally scared all those idiots!"

Sarutobi smiled. "Yes, yes I suppose I did, didn't I?" Sarutobi grinned, proud of the effect he could still have on people, highly competent Ninja many of them, a room full of them no less. Yes he hadn't lost his touch.

---)(---

The next day at the academy Naruto was much brighter than the previous day. In the morning he had gathered everyone in his class and regaled them with a dramatic portrait of how the Hokage had totally scared the entire council and how he had caught the evil bandaged man – his name completely forgotten – and how the ANBU guard had been assigned and everything.

For many of the people there it answered a few questions as to why their fathers had come home from their meeting rather shaken, top-level Ninja they may be, but they were still not nearly as powerful as the Hokage. He was a man of great patience and wisdom, but he was also a man of raw power and skill. One only had to look toward the name he had made for himself during the second great Ninja war, the God of Ninja, a man who embodied everything a Ninja should aspire to be. He had no fancy techniques such as all three of the other Hokage yet he had fought the enemy on a level none of the other Hokage could compete with. Where the other Hokage had prevailed through intense battle prowess and feats of skill, Sarutobi had not only defeated all of his opponents through many different means. Shows of skill or brute strength, great tests of cunning and ability with Chakra, but he had most of all never fought them at all, instead sewing the seeds of doubt. His greatest triumph, though only Konoha knew of it, was turning the two strongest other hidden villages against each other. The hidden villages of Cloud and Stone had been and still were Konoha's main rivals for military superiority however during the second Great War they had set aside their own disputes to focus on their qualms with Konoha. Sarutobi single-handedly turned them against each other before their armies left the village gates. Such a feat was not only what had likely led to Konoha coming out on top from that war but was the embodiment of what a Ninja was meant to be, fighting prowess should come second to stealth and deception. If a Ninja had an objective, the best way to get that objective done would be to have someone else do it, leaving the blame to fall far from them selves.

Naruto's hearty recollection of that night's events was cut short however when the bell rang for classes to start that morning, and as one the class ran for the doors. Luckily for Naruto, his hearing was still better than everyone else's, including Kiba's, though less so Kiba's than anyone else's. As such he heard the click of the bell mechanism as it readied to ring, and not only covered his ears to protect them from the sound but was a full half-second ahead of everyone else in beginning his dash to the classroom.

As a result of this he was able to procure his most preferred seat, Sasuke's seat. It was not because Sasuke sat there that he wanted that seat, but because during the first few hours of morning classes as the sun beamed through the windows – and it was beaming rather brightly today – Sasuke's seat was completely covered in sun whereas other seats only got some sun. As such the rest of the class arrived in the classroom to see Naruto reclining in Sasuke's chair looking very content, basking in the sunlight. Iruka was writing something about the Clone Technique on the board and was happy to ignore everyone until he was finished.

Sasuke immediately walked up to Naruto. "Dead Last, you're in my seat."

Naruto turned to face him and thought carefully on what to say. Whilst he could try and persuade Sasuke to let him keep it, the likelihood of that happening was slim, so he decided to just taunt, as it would make him feel better about eventually having to give up his seat. "You know, the term 'Dead Last' is a description, not a Noun. Whilst it can be used as a term of address, it makes you sound silly, I'd recommend coming up with something new." Sasuke scowled at the clear mockery but quietly conceded his point was indeed valid. That was completely irrelevant though as Naruto still occupied his seat. Before Sasuke could comment though Naruto continued. "But anyway, you can have your seat back in a bit. Just let me enjoy the sun while it's here." Naruto relaxed and sat back.

Sasuke was in turmoil; in one hand it was a slight to his pride to let Naruto have his seat. He had always sat there ever since Iruka had placed them in seats. Of course when members of the class dropped out they had been allowed to shuffle around as they liked as Iruka had memorized their names by then, however it was Sasuke's seat and he always sat there, more as a routine than out of having ever thought about it. He also didn't want to move so that if there were ever a girl next to where he sat, they couldn't assume he had sat next to them, it would be that they sat next to him. Because it was _his seat_. Of course Naruto's point brought up the fact that the desk in front of the seat was bathed brightly in sunlight, which had often irritated Sasuke, especially when he was attempting work. They would likely be tested later on something or other, so even though it was only the last few days of the academy, Sasuke could get away from the sun hurting his eyes in the morning. Deciding he liked this option, since there was definitely a paper test at some point coming up, and the tests all seemed to be done during the morning, he acquiesced and sat down next to Naruto.

Naruto was quietly surprised, though he tried his best to hide it. He looked over to Sasuke and saw that Sasuke was staring rather intently at his desk. Looking to his own desk he noted the difference, Sasuke's was covered in shade, and would be for the rest of the day as the height of the windows wasn't great enough for the sun to reach as far as Sasuke's desk, whereas Naruto's desk was lit up brightly, and it sort of hurt his eyes. Ah, that might be it. Naruto poked Sasuke in the side. Sasuke turned slightly toward him and Naruto looked at his desk. "The light off the desk hurts my eyes." Sasuke turned back, a slight smirk on his face.

Of course both Sasuke and Naruto knew that Naruto had not said that as a complaint, or because he thought Sasuke might _care_ that the light hurt his eyes, but as an acknowledgement of why Sasuke had given up his previous seat. Sasuke was quietly impressed at how perceptive it was of Naruto to pick that up. But he only responded with a rather dismissive grunt. "Hnn."

Just behind Sasuke and Naruto, throughout this entire affair Sakura and Ino had been rather animatedly berating Naruto about 'How dare he be in Sasuke's seat!' and other such stuff. They had been pointedly ignored by both parties however and when Sasuke sat down, they promptly fell silent, not quite comprehending what was going on. Sasuke _always_ sat there, why wasn't he sitting there now? After Naruto and Sasuke's little exchange they both figured Naruto might be right and that the light had annoyed Sasuke too. Naruto turned to regard Sakura and Ino from his seat and made a quick jab at them, in response to their earlier admonishments of his actions. "See, it's good to not be so presumptuous isn't it? Sakura, Ino?" Naruto turned back to the front as Ino and Sakura processed what he had said. Basically he was insulting their intelligence and actions.

Sakura responded first. "Hey! Shut up idiot!" How dare he insult her!

Ino responded next, hot on Sakura's heels. "Yeah! Shut up, what would you know?!" Naruto didn't deign to respond though, even if he had responded he figured they would just shout at him and ignore any logic or general correctness that he might have had in whatever he said.

Not long after all of this Iruka finished writing down what were now identifiable as instructions for the test of the day and turned around to face the class. "Right now that we're all settled down." He looked over to Ino and Sakura, as they had been rather loud just moments ago, they shrunk slightly under his accusatory look but he looked back to the rest of the class and continued. "As you can see the rules for the next examination are simple, you will be coming up to the front and performing the Clone Technique." Naruto raised his hand and Iruka looked over to him. "Ah yes, I know Naruto, don't worry you won't be expected to perform the Clone Technique." He turned back to the rest of the class. "Now this is only a preliminary examination, if you fail you still have a few days until the graduation exam to train so that you may pass at that time." Here he paused and his featured hardened somewhat. "Now I will not tolerate and disrespect should someone fail at this technique, is that understood?" The class, much like trained monkeys, all replied 'Yes Master Iruka' at the same time, with a rather nice chorus sound. "Right then, before we Begin I will demonstrate the Clone technique for everyone."

Iruka put his hands into the hand-seal of the Ram and concentrated slightly before declaring "Clone Technique." And a poof of smoke appeared to his left, revealing a perfect copy of himself. Releasing the seal, the clone remained until he dismissed it. "Now you will all be expected to produce at least two working clones. Any questions?"

Naruto was definitely confused. When Iruka had declared his technique he had seen the smoke appear to his side but when it cleared there was nothing there, looking around the class nobody else seemed confused so he decided to ask what was up. Raising his hand to ask a question. Iruka looked over to him. "Ah, yes Naruto?"

The entire class looked to Naruto, which made him slightly self-conscious. "Ah… um… I didn't see anything, when you did that… There was some smoke but then nothing."

To his side Sasuke looked at him in a calculating manner, his eyes were still blue and there was no Chakra coming from him. There was no way he had a bloodline like the Byakuugan or the Sharingan which would allow him to see through illusions. Sasuke looked back to Iruka, happy with his decision. Iruka however looked puzzled. "Hmm, you didn't see it you say?" Naruto nodded. Iruka scratched his chin for a moment before he came up with an idea. "Okay, I'm going to try something." Performing a few hand seals rather than just one, in sequence this time he then declared. "Chameleon Technique." And to the eyes of the class Iruka faded into the background. However to Naruto he just looked like he was standing there being a bit silly. After a moment he released the technique and looked around the class, everyone seemed definitely impressed by the show of skill. "Now class that was a C-ranked difficulty Genjutsu which allows someone to blend into the background." Here he turned to Naruto. "Naruto, did you see me disappear?" Naruto shook his head, still thoroughly confused. "Interesting, perhaps you're somehow immune to illusions?"

Naruto paused for thought there, in mythology weren't foxes supposed to be masters of illusion? However he had also looked up the Kyuubi and it had never been recorded using illusions, it just seemed to like _breaking_ stuff. Maybe the Kyuubi's mastery of illusion came in the form of seeing through it? Maybe it was just Naruto, or maybe it was a coincidence. However Iruka continued his analysis. "There are several types of illusions, those which cover an area and change what we see, the Chameleon or Clone techniques for example, there are also those which affect the senses or implant ideas or images into the mind of the victim, or even those which can induce certain states such as sleep. You may be immune to one or more of these, but of course we'll have to investigate that later. For now let's begin the test, Shino if you wouldn't mind?" Iruka gestured with his left hand to the front of the class and Shino sat up and descended the stairs wordlessly.

Next to Naruto Sasuke was once again observing him, though much more surreptitiously this time, it wouldn't do to be caught after all. He wasn't worried so much as curious, how did the Dead Last come by abilities which changed his Chakra so that he couldn't use Ninjutsu or Genjutsu, but gained some strange abilities instead… and to top it off he might have immunity to Genjutsu, one of the more powerful abilities granted to users of the Sharingan or Byakuugan. If that were the case he would have to pay more attention to Naruto. When he activated his Sharingan Naruto might be a good person to test it's Genjutsu casting abilities against as rather than someone with a strong will to resist them it might be even harder to cast one on someone such as Naruto. Sasuke doubted that his ability was perfect, especially against the Sharingan.

---)(---

The rest of the day was rather boring for Naruto, he didn't get to find out any more about whether or not he was 'immune' to illusions or not, he simply watched other people make hand-seals and make puffs of smoke appear, he had to guess from what Iruka said to find out that everyone managed it. After that lunch had been pretty average, he had eaten food, been ignored by Sakura and Ino and thought about the attention he had received from Sasuke, for he was not so oblivious to have not noticed Sasuke observing him rather intently. After lunch he had to sit through a lecture on the uses of the Clone Technique, which he couldn't use nor would it seemingly be used against him either, since he couldn't see them. Though he tried to pay attention so he could absorb the general tactical knowledge, tactics were useful after-all. After wards he had headed home to try and get the Hokage to test out some illusions on him but he was at work, and didn't get back until Naruto had fallen asleep.

The next day was equally boring; Naruto had to sit through the classes test on the Substitution Technique, which allowed someone to quickly produce a clone of themselves whilst they replaced themselves with something substantial, which could take a hit for them, whilst they hid somewhere to prepare retaliation. He was incapable of this especially as it was a combination of a simple movement technique of some sort, which he really never understood, and the clone technique, which he couldn't do. On the plus side, it seemed he could instantly recognise that someone had used a Substitution to take a hit for them, where as it seemed others didn't realise until the Clone was dispelled. In practice they had merely Substituted, no attacks or anything were aimed at them. Afterwards he had to sit through a long lecture on the uses of the substitution technique, which he thought were pointless, it was more Iruka telling the class what to do and what not to do, such as don't substitute with something too small as it's much harder, and don't try and land somewhere you're unsure about lest you injure yourself and don't… blah blah blah. Again when he returned to the Hokage's house there were only the servants to greet him, which they still did reluctantly, even after he had been being nice to them for nine months solid. He didn't like that house too much.

And so it was without much gusto that Naruto awoke for his final day at the academy, to sit through more tests he couldn't do. 'Oh Joy' Naruto thought to himself as he got dressed for the day.

---)(---

AN: Anyone get the reference to Charlie the unicorn? Kekeke "Shun the non-believer!" "Shuuuuuu-uuu-nuh"

I also want to credit most of the Sasuke stuff in here to my friend, I'm not sure what his pen-name is, possibly BlueIdol. Anyway, he likes Sasuke and is the main reason Sasuke won't be portrayed as an utter asshat. He makes good arguments for Sasuke's actions which don't portray him as such. Also, everyone should thank him, as he will likely be my continuing motivation to keep writing the story as I'm very lazy, and he can be kind of obsessive, which means he'll keep reminding me to write some if I stop , not a bad thing since it's fun to do.

Uh about the chapters, I've had free time recently, a big reason why I started this. I don't plan to stop but if I run low on free time, it'll take longer to write. Thank you for your understanding.


	5. Graduation and Friendship

AN: I've been asked about names for techniques and such, and about the Naru/Ino stuff. Well point one; I already explained I won't be using Japanese. I find it stupid, I don't speak Japanese so I wouldn't know what I'm writing down to represent whatever techniques I'm putting. Sure I know what a lot of them mean but I don't speak Japanese and I'm not going to pretend, it annoys me how some people attempt to write Japanese, even whole sentences in FF's and they get it wrong. I can't even _speak_ or _read_ Japanese but I can notice when someone does that, it's sad.

About Naru/Ino stuff, they haven't seen each other once 9 months ago, and had minimal interaction in the Academy, really… people, since I'm trying to write as realistic a story as I can when involving demons and all that, romance isn't going to blossom in such a situation, especially when Ino's still obsessed with Sasuke. Now, it's going to happen just be patient ..

If anyone's interested in the Inuyasha manga, I'm downloading the volumes from the 1-45 torrent 5 at a time, I'm at 27 complete and 28-32 almost done. I'm using the Freelance-Manga scanlations. So if anyone wants them I'm basically seeding 1-27 and will be seeding up from there as I download more. I definitely recommend them, very good stuff.

---)(---

After Naruto had gotten up he went down stairs to see Sarutobi at the kitchen table, as if nothing had happened and he had not been basically AWOL for two days solid. Breakfast was quick because Naruto had taken a long time getting ready, though before he left he managed to extract a promise from Sarutobi that he would try lots of Genjutsu on Naruto, though he didn't have time for an explanation. Naruto was in such a rush he forgot his lunch, though he wouldn't notice until it was time for it to be eaten.

When he got to the Academy everyone was being very quiet and pensive, probably worrying about the upcoming exam, well except for Shikamaru, who was asleep. Or Shino, who was being stoic, as always. Even Sasuke seemed rather pensive, though for Sasuke that was the lack of evaluative glance upon entry to the room, rather than any more overt emotional display.

First of the day they had a paper-test, both Naruto and Shikamaru decided it was too troublesome and barely tried at all, though for Shikamaru this still meant getting every answer right, just not bothering to write down his working-out as that would take more effort than just writing the answers. It was also the moment of Sasuke's triumph, for this final written assignment that he would take in the Academy was being taken in the shade, the white paper of the test which was often prone to reflecting light towards him, couldn't. Ha! He was in the Shade, take that _bitches_. Sasuke was unusually happy to be taking his paper test and it unnerved Naruto who was sitting next to him, nobody should have such a pleased-with-themselves expression when taking tests, they were evil. Naruto was also having a bad time since his eyes seemed to refuse to completely adapt to the light of the room, specifically all the light being reflected at them from his paper, which was a big reason why he decided not to put much effort in. His eyes seemed happy to be damaged slightly over time and just heal up the damage as it came, caring little for the pain involved for Naruto.

Immediately afterwards there was Taijutsu examinations. Naruto was last this time, since his grading was merely just for curiosities sake, as everyone knew the Hokage himself had already deemed Naruto as worthy of being a Genin. Naruto had done surprisingly well in the test. His form was entirely poor, however his claws made hand-to-hand exchanges extremely difficult for his opponent, a random Chuunin assigned to replace Mizuki for the tests. He was easily able to make his opponent bail from a punch, swipe, counter, etc simply by putting his claws in the way, much like blocking a punch with a kunai, even if the punch evaded and still hit, the kunai would graze the arm and do far more damage.

Naruto's footwork however was surprisingly good, he didn't have any stance based footwork, nor did he have any particular use of kicks, even though he seemed rather nimble, it was as if he didn't particularly realize his feet were also useable for attacking as well, it was all hands – or claws – for Naruto. His footwork seemed to stem from some amazingly acute sense of balance and a seemingly instinctual knowledge of where his feet would be needed to spread his weight or to brace for an impact when he blocked or was hit. In fact Naruto's rather simple combination of seemingly random swipes which often turned into counter-attacks at the last moment with his claws, coupled with his excellent footwork and balance put him on equal footing technique-wise with his opponent, it was only through sheer speed that the Chuunin was able to hold on to the advantage and control the spar until its conclusion, avoiding anything but the most minor of scratches.

Naruto had been having excellent fun during his spar, it was likely to be his only activity for the day since the Genjutsu and Ninjutsu portions of the exam were beyond him and the written test didn't count as activity really. He had found it almost relaxing to be in a struggle for dominance of physical attacks. Almost like meditation, he felt himself clearing of thoughts, he didn't bother predicting his opponent's moves nor did he attempt to be strategic in any particular way and attempt to plan his moves in advance, as many forms of Taijutsu do, to lead one's opponent through a fight causing them to leave an opening. Instead Naruto merely reacted, he concentrated on his opponent, the smell the sound, the expressions, everything. He concentrated and he reacted. When he was attacked he moved how it felt right to move, often putting his claws in the way, sometimes dodging and counter-attacking. He never planned his movements he just did them from what he assumed was pure instinct. He didn't notice how his feet were moving with what most assumed were expert precision and grace to keep his balance perfect and to allow for a full range of movement whilst also keeping him able to take the force of any impacts that he may receive past his claws.

At the end he was smiling brightly, fangs showing and glee in his eyes, he wanted to go _again_ and he wanted to go again _now_. But it was not to be, his opponent was rather tired, since he had fought the entire class before that rather arduous bout.

The rest of the class watched with a mixture of awe and jealousy. They had all been lead around their fights by the Chuunin, so that Iruka could observe their abilities piece by piece, attack, defence, counterattack, balance, speed and strength. He guided them through blocks, kicks both high and low, punches, various stances, everything they had ever been taught about Taijutsu. Even Sasuke, though he had been easily the most proficient in Taijutsu out of the group, had been lead through the examination, taken through his paces as it were but Naruto seemed to be immune. At first they all recognised the same techniques being employed, the Chuunin started off testing their blocking abilities, going for various openings, weak points in their stance. Naruto however seemed to be able to adapt as fast as he was attacked, as soon as his opponent would ready for a punch, his stance would change, allowing for a full range of movement around the punch, he would often ignore the attacks until the last minute when he would put his claws in the way like a kunai or would dodge by the smallest of margins. Those of the class who were proficient in Taijutsu, which was Sasuke and Kiba basically, realised that however Naruto had come about it, he had masterful footwork and balance, so much so that even though his technique overall was below that of his opponent, he could easily compensate through quick reflexes and sharp claws.

This resulted in the Chuunin early-on abandoning his standard routine for testing and testing on the fly, attempting to keep a tally of things he had yet to test out and checking them off as the battle continued, which made it take a lot longer. If nothing else then Naruto got ten points for stamina.

Also another thing about Naruto became apparent but much later in the spar, because Naruto didn't use any punches and because he rarely blocked it was hard to notice but when he did push against attacks with his palms the Chuunin found Naruto was _strong_. When he had kicked at Naruto's head his leg had been pushed away with one hand, to the extent that he had to make a full spin in the opposite direction that his kick had been going to deal with the momentum his leg had gained from the push, he avoided doing that again.

Both Sasuke and Kiba had picked up on that particular moment in the spar immediately, blocking with one hand against a kick was generally stupid, unless you were against someone of significantly less strength than yourself. The best you could do with one arm would be to brace it against your body as sort of padding to absorb the blow and minimise damage, not _catch_ the kick with one hand and _throw_ it away with so much force the opponents entire body was affected, that just didn't happen. That meant only one thing, somehow Naruto had become _strong_, not strong as in combat prowess strong, but physically strong as in they wouldn't be arm-wrestling him any time soon.

The last thing that was noticed was only noticed by Shikamaru and Hinata, as they were very good at facial reactions and had been paying especially high attention to the movements of Naruto's eyes when they could see them, he wasn't anticipating his opponent's moves or planning his own, he was reacting on the spot. For Shikamaru this was a mixture between utter foolishness and a source of complete bafflement because nobody had reactions that good and if they did they were complete masters of a form of Taijutsu and such actions had been engrained into their brains over years and years of hard training. Naruto however had no such training, it was impossible over nine months which he had stated he had been working on Chakra control, instead it meant he was subconsciously or instinctually deciding what action to take as soon as he noticed the attack, and waiting until the last moment to execute the movement, as if defence took a back-seat to his offence. For Hinata she was also worried about ever having to fight Naruto, or any of the Hyuuga having to fight him, because even though the Byakuugan lacked the predictive abilities of the Sharingan, it was greater than the Sharingan in raw perceptive abilities and the ability to analyse one's opponent. As such the minor unconscious reactions and signals people gave were a great part of their fighting technique, allowing them to beat otherwise superior opponents with ease as they broadcast their intentions through the subtle muscular inflections, particularly in the eyes. Naruto however was doing no such thing, sure his intentions were interpretable from his eyes, but his intentions translated to 'attack' or 'block' there was nothing other than his brief glances at particular parts of his opponents body, away from staring his opponent in the eyes, which would indicate what he was intending to do, as if he wasn't consciously or even subconsciously planning or strategizing or even analysing the fight, merely intending to do something and instinctually performing the actions required as and when required to carry out his very basic intentions. For Hinata and Shikamaru it was both stupid and frightening, stupid because such a method of fighting was below even a street-brawler and completely basic and pathetic really, but frightening because somehow he made it work to a level where because of his claws and with some speed and technique training he would likely become extraordinarily proficient in Taijutsu and be completely unpredictable in a fight beyond knowing he was going to attack during the fight.

Sasuke had also noticed this occurrence but not to the level that Shikamaru and Hinata had, however he had noticed it to a level where he knew that Naruto would be a great opponent once he activated his Sharingan. Not only would he be an excellent test subject for his Sharingan based Genjutsu but also if his suspicions about Naruto's purely reaction-based Taijutsu were true then the Sharingan's abilities to predict Naruto would be virtually nullified, for the Sharingan would only be able to predict his next action once he at least subconsciously acknowledged what it would be, as such Sasuke would be forced to use superior technique, speed and skill to beat Naruto using only his Sharingan to detect the last-moment changes in intention as his intention changed and being able to avoid the way he blocked with his claws.

True Sasuke had at first been intensely jealous of Naruto's superior performance during the test, but he had calmed when he realised he was superior to Naruto in form and technique by miles, and once he had noticed Naruto's reaction based technique he had spent the rest of his time half-observing and half-thinking to the future and planning out how he might go about testing and improving himself against Naruto. The main appeal was that against another user of the Sharingan, like Itachi for instance, their intentions too would change at much lower notice as well, for as they predicted his own intentions they would then change their own accordingly, affording him less time to counter-counter attack. Whilst the effect would not be the same it would be sufficiently similar to be of great use in preparation for the day when he would kill Itachi.

At lunch Naruto once again occupied the bench he had sat on his first lunch-time back at the academy, though he had had to run back to the Hokage's house to retrieve his lunch before he could sit down with it. This time he wasn't surrounded by an inquisition, everyone was generally off somewhere in their little cliques relaxing after the strenuous Taijutsu examination, recuperating for the Ninjutsu and Genjutsu examinations to come. Naruto was glad he didn't have to do those, he could pass the Ninjutsu fine, but he had never been able to perform a Clone, the last exam would most certainly be on that and he would have failed if not for his change in circumstances. A Silver lining, so it would seem.

Sasuke was currently standing leaning against a wall in the grounds of the academy, he had just finished his lunch and was now studiously ignoring Sakura and Ino as they sequentially asked him out, praised him and argued with each other in jarring shrill tones. Their normal voices were quite nice, why couldn't they talk to him like that, did they think he _enjoyed_ being tormented by impersonating banshees? Who in the _hell_ would enjoy such a noise? He was currently thinking about Naruto's performance in the exams, he had moved past his plans for their training, as it mostly involved using Naruto as a practice subject for his Sharingan, completely ignoring whether or not Naruto had any wish to participate in this. Instead Sasuke was thinking about how Naruto learned to fight like that, whether it came as part of these new abilities or whether someone taught him. If it came as part of these new abilities Sasuke would seriously consider attempting to gain them for himself, for they could not be detrimental if there was someone out there at the level of the Hokage with similar abilities, the crucial thing would be if he would still be able to use his Sharingan if he were to gain such abilities, for Naruto had said his Chakra had changed significantly, would it be too different from normal Chakra to sustain the Sharingan? Sasuke's thoughts had been going in circles, trying to figure this out, he decided the only way he would get anywhere would be to ask Naruto how he came about these abilities, if they were taught then so too could they be taught to Sasuke, that was the ideal option. If not then Sasuke would have to learn about Naruto's abilities.

Deciding this was definitely the only logical course of action and further thought would only run around in circles as it had been, Sasuke pushed off the wall he was leaning against, walking between Ino and Sakura without acknowledging their presence and going straight over to Naruto. Behind him Ino and Sakura had begun asking him to wait or where he was going but he again studiously ignored their presence.

Naruto easily heard and smelt Sasuke's approach, but he decided that Sasuke would probably initiate something, probably questioning, so Naruto just continued on with the last bits of his lunch.

As Sasuke appeared in front of Naruto he waited for Naruto to acknowledge his presence, though he knew Naruto knew he was there, it was the principle of the thing, etiquette of conversation and all that, he had come to Naruto so Naruto should acknowledge his acknowledgement, or something like that, maybe pride was a big part of it.

Naruto figured Sasuke wanted something, so Naruto briefly looked up at him. "Ah yes Sasuke?"

Sasuke grunted in response to the greeting before getting down to it, by which time Naruto had already started on the last vestiges of his lunch. "Who taught you to fight like that?"

Naruto looked up at Sasuke as he placed the last morsel of lunch in his mouth and thought. Even though he knew he wasn't supposed to talk with food in his mouth, he didn't really care plus he needed to know for him to formulate an answer, which he could do whilst finishing off his food, so whilst splattering a little food out of his mouth Naruto questioned Sasuke. "Uhm… you mean from the test earlier?"

Sasuke nodded, mildly disgusted as some food very nearly got to him from Naruto's mouth. Naruto thought about it, before he wasn't very good at Taijutsu where he had to admit thinking back on it, he had done pretty sweet, perhaps even kick ass? And his opponent had been a Chuunin no less and he seemed to be able to keep up. Definitely a bonus. Of course the only teacher he had had for the last nine months had been Neji, who had completely neglected combat training, except for his Youki abilities so that wasn't likely to have helped. Once he was finished chewing Naruto answered. "Well the only teacher I've had has been Neji and we didn't learn any Taijutsu, so I guess it's just instinctual, part of the abilities I've gotten." Naruto flexed his claw to show Sasuke what he meant. Naruto continued however after a moment, having remembered something. "Oh yeah, the eyebrow-spandex-freak gave me some weights…" Naruto trailed off, sudden realization dawning. "Oh my god, no more Neji, no more eyebrow-spandex-freak's… I can take these off!" Naruto immediately pushed back his left wrist with his right hand, completely ignoring Sasuke and Sakura and Ino who had tagged along and were watching with interest. Naruto found the weight on his wrist, in pristine condition, he had completely forgotten about these things, they were just there really, he had been wearing them for nine months during Neji's training because Gai kept popping up and he was scared he'd get harder ones if Gai found out they were gone, but that was over, no more Neji's training, no more Gai, _yes_! Naruto pointed his index finger out and flexed it as he flowed Youki through it and then scratched down the weight, it was made of steel or iron or something right the way around so he had to put a lot of force onto it but with a dull screech he cut through it and it fell from his wrist to the floor, luckily Naruto's reflexes allowed him to move his foot to the side so that the weight didn't land on it, that would've hurt.

Sasuke, Sakura and Ino were all shocked that Naruto had been wearing weights during the Taijutsu test; surely it would've been better to take them _off_ for the test, because they would slow him down otherwise. But then they realised that if he had been that good with the weights, then how good could he be without them. Their shock increased dramatically when a rather resounding yet dull thunk came from the weight as it hit the floor. Oblivious to all this, Naruto quickly repeated the process with his other wrist and his two ankles.

Naruto stood up from the bench and stretched, rubbing his wrists with each hand alternatively to help them get used to the feeling of not being weighed down ridiculously, it was hard for him to believe each of those had weighed thirty pounds, maybe Gai was right and his ability to adapt had made them effective, either way they were _gone_ and it felt _good_. Having stretched and rubbed his wrists sufficiently, though he didn't stop the rubbing, Naruto looked to Sasuke. "Ah sorry, yeah there were these weights but no training. Must be instincts, abilities and stuff." Naruto turned back to his stretching and moved his ankles about experimentally. "Oh man this feels good, it's been nine months, damn eyebrow-spandex-freak."

Sasuke was silently analysing the situation, he looked down at the weights and saw that he could see one of their labels; it read thirty pounds, extra safe. Whatever 'extra safe' meant, he knew that thirty pounds was a lot, probably too much to wear constantly on one limb, especially if he had one on each limb. Far too much, yet Naruto had seemingly forgotten about it, and had been wearing them for nine months apparently which meant for nine months his muscles had been growing stronger under a significant strain. Whilst the weights wouldnt've had a significant impact on his ability to push sideways, though they would've increased his muscles mass across his entire arm, they wouldn't impeded sideways movement specifically, so his pushing back of the Chuunin's kick would be a good indicator of his strength, which was seemingly now very significant.

Ino and Sakura on the other hand were not so silent and analytic, Sakura instead gawked whilst Ino questioned. "Oy Naruto, how much do those weigh?"

Naruto turned to Ino, only now having noticed her and Sakura's presence, he knew they had followed Sasuke but had ignored them and then forgotten in his excitement to be free of the weights. "Oh hey Ino! Uhm, they're eer." Naruto looked at one of them on the floor. "Thirty pounds each."

Ino screamed whilst Sakura gawked more. "WHAT?!" Naruto immediately recoiled and rubbed his ear which had been closest to Ino, but she ignored his actions. "What do you mean thirty pounds?! You can't wear _thirty pounds_ especially not _all the damn time_ it would completely break your muscles!"

Naruto looked at her incredulously. "Well they were really annoying for the first two months or so, but I heal really quickly so I guess there was no breaking of muscles, but they weren't _that_ heavy, come on."

Ino shook her head, completely in denial. "No Naruto, it's a biological impossibility, seriously muscles can't handle that kind of strain for so long, it would definitely be detrimental to them, they'd end up breaking and eating themselves up for energy."

Naruto gawked at her. "_What?!_ But I'm fine…" Naruto began prodding his muscles experimentally because he had become very worried now. Ino went over to the weights and picked one up, it strained her slightly to pick one up, though she could handle it, all four would be impossible for her. They were definitely around thirty pounds each.

Ino looked to Sakura, who was looking expectantly to her; she dropped the weight and told her the prognosis. "Oh my god, they are like thirty pounds each, it doesn't make sense." Ino turned to Naruto. "You must've been wearing just over your own body weight, that's not healthy! How the hell could you move around normally?"

Naruto shrugged. "I dunno, after the first two months I forgot about them, I would've taken them off but I did that once and ended up with those, which were really hard to take off, so I didn't because I was scared I might end up with ones I'd _really_ be stuck in. But I'm free now!"

Ino shook her head in exasperation. Sakura finally managed to come out of her shock and asked a question. "Hey, how come you didn't take them off for the test earlier? They must have slowed you down loads?"

Naruto thought about it for a while. "Well I honestly forgot I had them… and about being slowed down, well I think I've gotten quite a bit faster since I started training with Neji and got them, so I don't think they will have slowed me down."

Sasuke was paying keen interest to this, perhaps he should try weights? Though perhaps nothing so extreme, he too knew of how muscles worked and was also dumbfounded about how Naruto hadn't simply _broken_ his muscles with this ridiculous weight training, he chalked it up to the strange abilities Naruto had acquired, adding weight to the argument for trying to gain similar abilities.

Unexpectedly an explanation came from Shikamaru who was leaning against a tree behind Naruto's bench, having apparently heard the entire conversation, or at least enough. "It is likely the weights did help your speed increase." Everyone's attention snapped to Shikamaru as it seemed he knew an answer or something at least and they were all eager to find out. "If the weights weren't too much for Naruto's muscles then they could operate at a higher capacity at maximum. With the weights that maximum will have increased as his muscles compensated for the constant strain, which is how muscle mass is generally increased. So as his muscles increased in maximum output due to the weights, his maximum speed will have increased at an increased weight. Even with the weights it's probable that if there's no muscle damage then your speed with them will have surpassed your original speed without them, now that they're off you're likely to be able to move even faster however you're improvement will have stopped as there is no more constant strain."

Everyone paused to figure out what Shikamaru had said, Sasuke got it. It was like the weights took off an exact amount of ability but gave a steady input of ability, so after a while even with what the weights took off, the overall ability was higher. Sasuke was curious as to how he knew this though. "How do you know so much about this kind of stuff?" Shikamaru looked across the grounds to Chouji briefly before looking back. "It is the same reason why the Akimichi clan are so strong as strength is increased in the same way, though they are not built for any kind of speed. My clan is very close with theirs, so we have learnt some stuff." Sasuke nodded, accepting that answer. Chouji's bulk would act in a similar manner to these weights, though far less extreme, and also with some uses such as padding and energy stores. If an Akimichi were to absorb all their fat energy somehow, it would no longer impede their speed, great potential however Sasuke doubted they could do so without killing themselves, such drastic biological changes had a habit of doing that.

Looking back to Naruto, and over to Sakura and Ino it seemed that only Naruto was struggling with what was being said so he decided to help the poor guy out, not out of kindness but in preparation for his next question. "Oy Naruto." Naruto looked at him. "Imagine you're a bucket and there's water in there and that's your ability." Naruto looked like he wanted to tell Sasuke off for calling him a bucket but held off, realising Sasuke was going out of his way. "The weights did something like take out some of the water – your ability – and started to pour a small amount of water in. After a while you had more water – ability – than you started with, even with some missing that the weights have. Now that they're gone, you get that extra back as well but there's no more water flowing in. You follow?"

Naruto nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah! Thanks Sasuke, wow that's so cool! Maybe I should get some new weights!"

Before Naruto could go off on some weight induced tirade Sasuke cut in. "Naruto, how did you come about those abilities? The instincts, those nails, the ability to wear such ridiculous weights?"

Naruto stopped his budding tirade and exploration of the possibilities of what he could do with new and heavier weights and turned to Sasuke. Immediately all his bluster and cheer evaporated and he looked to Sasuke with a very solemn expression, not speaking for a few long moments. "I'm sorry Sasuke, that's none of your business."

Sasuke ignored the tense atmosphere, there was no way Naruto's 'traumatic experience' could compare to the horrors he had experienced as a child, he was wallowing in self-pity, obviously, and it was pathetic. Not only that but he could be holding a secret which may drastically increase his chances of defeating Itachi; he could not let such an opportunity slide away. Stalking towards Naruto Sasuke tried to be as intimidating as possible, everyone around them tensed seeing the aggressive actions Sasuke was making but Naruto ignored him and walked off in Shikamaru's vague direction into the trees, he felt the solemnity of the shade would do him good, he hadn't been in such a sad mood for many months, maybe he could indulge for a while before forcing himself to move on with life.

Sasuke followed Naruto at a brisk pace, reaching Naruto before he got to the trees; he stopped Naruto with a hand on his shoulder. "Don't walk away from me, tell me your secret, how'd you get so powerful?" Naruto just stared ahead, refusing to turn around and respond to Sasuke, causing him to get agitated. "Answer me! You don't deserve all this power, I need it!" Sasuke's outburst was surprising for everyone around, nobody had ever witnessed Sasuke lose his composure in such a manner, but Sasuke was oblivious to them and was completely intent on Naruto. Finally he snapped and he pulled Naruto around to face him with the hand on Naruto's shoulder but Naruto was staring at the ground. Sasuke used both hands to fist into Naruto's clothes, which seemed surprisingly thick or resistant, and shook him. "_Answer me_!"

Naruto finally had enough, it was none of Sasuke's business, he didn't care what purpose Sasuke apparently needed power for or if it was just for narcissistic reasons but he finally had enough, his solemn mood chipped away by anger at his treatment by Sasuke, he whipped his head up, his eyes slowly turning red and grabbed Sasuke by the throat in much the same way he had done Mizuki.

Sasuke fought for air, the grip was not so hard that he could not breathe but it was hard. Before he could move to free himself Naruto whirled around and slammed Sasuke into a tree-trunk, finding Sasuke's weight surprisingly lighter than he had expected.

Sasuke, trying to stay as composed as possible and not panic, punched Naruto in the face but Naruto took the hit, his face becoming red for half a minute, but did not budge, merely holding Sasuke, Sasuke then punched him in the stomach, no reaction still. Finally he went to knee Naruto in the crotch but before he could Naruto yanked him off the tree and slammed him back by the neck. Naruto finally spoke, whispering in a growl-like manner through his bared teeth. "It is _none_ of your business, Uchiha. Leave it _alone_." With that Naruto let go of Sasuke and stalked off to the classroom.

Sasuke got up, completely unharmed and only slightly short of breath, glared at everyone and stalked after Naruto. Nobody made a sound until they had both gone. Ino and Sakura entertained the idea of following after Sasuke or berating Naruto for his harsh treatment, but somehow it seemed wrong to do, somehow Naruto seemed completely justified in his anger.

Shikamaru came to the same conclusion, on a tree not too far away but he secretly hoped he never found out what could do that to someone as generally happy as Naruto. "Troublesome."

---)(---

When Sasuke got to the classroom, well before the end of lunch, hot on Naruto's heels, he found Naruto in the corner, his face buried in his arms effectively, especially with the wide sleeves of his collecting around his head like extra padding. His anger sapped away as he saw what a rather pathetic sight Naruto made. However he knew Naruto would not want anything like pity, so he went with what came naturally to him, scathing remarks. "Oy Naruto, you look pathetic."

Naruto's head snapped up and Sasuke couldn't tell if his eyes were red from being upset or if it was the same thing that had made his pupils red earlier, though he suspected the former. Sasuke made no move from his position near the door and merely gazed at Naruto.

Naruto had been basically running away, he still didn't want to completely deal with what had happened, he was also scared of how easily it was now for him to become angry, he was never an angry person before and he didn't want to be now. His easy-going personality had helped him through many tough times and he missed that ability he had to bounce back when he fell, where now he shifted across into anger when pushed, as if the wall that he bounced off before was gone. He stared at Sasuke for a moment, processing what he had said; it was a rather scathing insult.

Naruto's first instinct was to insult Sasuke back. "Bastard." His second feeling was that Sasuke had insulted him rather than pity him, which was a rather depressing thought. Naruto began to straighten himself up, wiping at his eyes once with his sleeve, it was an easy process with the clothes he was wearing being so resistant to creases. He also realised that he had basically Assaulted Sasuke and that he should probably apologize. "Uh Sorry about that, it's… it's not a good memory."

Sasuke could understand that, he would probably react in the same way if someone were to just so bluntly ask about the loss of his family, he didn't feel like expressing this, instead he made a gesture of his forgiveness by sitting down next to Naruto, even though they were now no where near either of their previous seats of that week, or Sasuke's previous seat of, nearly forever. Which made the gesture all the more easy to pick up, which made Sasuke antsy, he didn't like gestures, but it couldn't be helped.

Once Sasuke had sat down Naruto stared at him for a few moments, whilst Sasuke studiously ignored his attentions. Finally Naruto looked away to the front of the classroom and slouched back into his seat. A few moments later he came up with something to say. "You know, you're lucky I can't do Ninjutsu or Genjutsu anymore Sasuke." Sasuke turned to Naruto, indulging Naruto as he could hear the humour in his voice, which meant he wasn't being serious. "Because otherwise there's no way you'd be rookie of the year."

Sasuke looked back to the front of the class and grunted. "Hnn." He recognised it as a similar gesture, a compliment within an insult, Naruto was saying in his own way that he thought Sasuke would be Rookie of the year, or perhaps it was encouragement to do well on the upcoming tests? Perhaps both. Either way he understood, but of course he had to make a response, especially when he had thought of a good one. "That's easy to say when you don't have to do them. You'd never have passed the Genjutsu test."

Naruto chuckled slightly and Sasuke glanced at him from the corner of his eye. "Yeah, I always sucked at the Clone technique." Naruto leant back some more, putting his feet on his desk and smiled to himself, his previous bad mood gone completely. Sasuke looked back to the front, anticipating Iruka would arrive soon and couldn't help a rather happy smirk appearing on his face.

---)(---

After lunch ended Iruka took everyone to a separate room, one by one, to perform the Transformation technique, making sure their transformation was accurate enough to gain a passing grade. Naruto was of course exempt. Once this was done Iruka started at the beginning of the alphabet and brought everyone, one by one, into the room for them to perform the Clone technique, grading them for the quality of their clones for them to get a passing grade.

Once the testing was done Iruka handed out Forehead protectors with the symbol of the Leaf engraved into the metal, everyone in the class passed. Evidently whatever rigorous eliminations Naruto had missed were very thorough. Absently Naruto wondered how many people graduated from the other two classes in the Academy, or the other classes at the other two academies, but it didn't matter.

Of course Naruto also received a forehead protector, it was a given of course but he still felt some pride, the Hokage himself had said that his skills, though different, were worthy of the Genin title and the forehead protector he now possessed was a physical symbol of this, definitely something worth looking after.

Afterwards Iruka gave everyone a speech about the importance of being a Genin, that it was the beginning of their ninja career, he emphasised their loyalty to the village as it's protectors and the 'will of fire' which was supposedly the source of Konoha's success in the past. Naruto stopped listening after Iruka had gone into having loyalty to the village and protecting the villagers, he refused. His duty was to get strong, make Sesshoumaru proud of him. His duty was not to protect people who despised him.

Iruka had also told them to meet again after the weekend at the usual time for the beginning of academy classes for their initiation into the ninja ranks, pairing up with teams, meeting their new Sensei, all that stuff.

After they had been let out of the academy Naruto heard and smelt a crowd of people outside, however there was nobody there for him. There might be some ANBU around the area, but the Hokage wasn't there, Sesshoumaru was off somewhere doing whatever he did… Naruto stopped before the doors to the exit of the academy and leant up against the wall, he didn't want to face them right now, he felt so lonely. If he saw the faces of the parents of his classmates, the hate, disdain or the blatant disregard for his existence, he didn't know if he would cry or attack them but he knew he would do something so he decided to wait inside until the coast was clear, or at least until they were occupied, maybe he could sneak out unnoticed, or perhaps one of the windows at the side?

Whilst he was leaning there he didn't notice that Sasuke had stopped and was staring at him intently, behind him Ino and Sakura were fighting over who should give Sasuke a congratulatory kiss now that he had become a Ninja and was surely the rookie of the year.

Finally realising Sasuke was there Naruto looked up from his contemplation of the floor towards him, wondering why he wasn't outside with the others, he could hear Kiba's family making a rather loud noise about congratulations and some such, definitely not time to go outside yet.

Sasuke realised that Naruto was depressed or something and didn't seem to be willing, or hadn't noticed that he was expected to say something, normally he would say something derisive for his lack of perception but it was definitely not appropriate at the moment. Instead he just asked straight. "Why aren't you going outside?"

Naruto chuckled momentarily, a rather bitter sound before looking back down to the floor and replying. "There's nothing outside for me except loneliness and rejection."

Sasuke was surprised, honestly he had been hesitant to go outside yet, for similar reasons, he too had no family and seeing everyone outside, congregating with their parents who had all made a showing to pick them up and congratulate them on passing, it would just remind him that he no longer had a family to pick him up, to congratulate him, to give him a warm hug or praise for his achievements. Suddenly caught up in his own melancholy Sasuke decided that he would wait with Naruto, they could be lonely together perhaps, if only for today. It would not do for him to go getting attached, he could not afford anything like that, but he could afford camaraderie in the face of loneliness, someone who understood, if only for a while.

Ino and Sakura had stopped arguing when they realised Sasuke had stopped, they had stayed silent and become sombre as Naruto and Sasuke interacted. Finally after a long silence it was broken when Sakura's parents came through the door, wondering where she was. "Ah Sakura dear, come outside, oh a forehead protector! Well done dear!"

Sakura glanced once again to Sasuke and Naruto, then once again to Ino, who seemed caught up in her thoughts. "Uh… I'll see you guys soon." She looked to each of them, so they knew she meant everyone, even Ino though they had only just been arguing, and then she ran off to celebrate with her family, talk of a happy meal out echoing back down the hallway.

Ino looked from Sakura to Sasuke and Naruto, both in virtually identical poses once next to the other, leant against the wall staring at the floor, seemingly waiting for something to happen. Finally she made a decision to do something about their melancholy. "Right well, how about you guys come celebrate with me and my family? Huh?" No response, not even a twitch. "Come on, Naruto. We're on the same team now, right? You too Sasuke, come on!" Naruto looked up at Ino, his face rather inexpressive but he seemed so sad that she couldn't stand it; she imagined Sasuke looked much the same way. Finally she snapped. "Damn it! Come on!" She hurried towards them, both the boys becoming startled at her outburst but they could do little as Ino grabbed Sasuke's hand first, rather firmly and yanked him from the wall, then without hesitation she grabbed Naruto's hand too, gracefully avoiding his claws, and began dragging them towards the door, her legs pumping furiously to compensate for both boys' lack of motivation to move.

Naruto looked from Ino finally, as the shock of her actions slowly wore off, across to Sasuke, Sasuke looked back at him with an equally confused and unsure expression. Before they knew it Ino had kicked open the doors outside and dragged them over to where her family was waiting for her. Mother smiled and waved to her, her father standing just behind her mother, his arms crossed looking calm and proud, a smile on his face as he too had noticed Ino's forehead protector.

Once Ino had dragged Sasuke and Naruto over to where her parents were she dropped their hands and hugged her mom, both Sasuke and Naruto once again shared a look, a feeling of unease creeping upon them. It didn't help that Ino's father was gazing at them suspiciously, his eyebrow raised and everything.

Once Ino and her mom had stopped hugging her mother broke out in a small squeal, quite unbecoming of a lady. "Oooh Ino, well done!"

Ino beamed back at her mom. "Thanks mom!" She looked back at Naruto and Sasuke. "Mom, Dad, can we bring these two over to celebrate with us, pleeeease?" Ino made her patented puppy dog eyes stare immediately before her parents had time to prepare themselves to refuse her. Her mother didn't seem so averse to the idea though.

She first looked to Sasuke, immediately recognising him. "Ah but of course, young Master Uchiha is always welcome." She then looked over to Naruto, who did look quite different, he had taken to folding his arms, hiding his claws hi his sleeves so as to look less threatening, when he didn't want to look threatening. His hair was waving slightly in the wind, looking much longer, spikes three inches long protruding from the top of his head and most of them drooping slightly under the weight, tapering off to a thin film of hair at the back and some strangely downward spikes at the sides. Couples with the rather regal attire, reminiscent of a noble of the courts, Naruto was a far cry from the scruffy boy in the garish jump-suit he had once been. As such it took Ino's mother a long moment to figure out who he was. "And you too young mister um..."

Ino helped her mother out, eagerly, still buzzing from the excitement and the atmosphere outside where everyone was still in such high spirits. "Ah that's Naruto mom!"

Ino's mom froze, completely unsure how to react, Naruto still hadn't looked her in the face, seemingly intent upon the trees to the side of the field away from the crowd in the middle, as if he were trying to avoid looking at them. Naruto slowly turned to look at her and she seemed completely shocked at the revelation, he could smell it, he could also smell fear, so he decided it was entirely a bad idea to be there at all, and started to walk off to the nearest fence to the edge of the academy grounds, he wouldn't give them the satisfaction of seeing him run away, he walked calmly.

Ino's mom just watched him go, still shocked, she hadn't even noticed the whisker marks. Ino however had no such state of shock she rounded on her mom and stamped her foot. "Mom, what the hell?!"

Sasuke remembered what Naruto had said only minutes before, that there was only loneliness and _rejection_ waiting outside for him, was this it? Was he rejected for some reason by these people? He decided he would not share company with people who would be so callous, especially as he found himself more and more able to identify with Naruto recently. He too followed Naruto, though he wondered why Naruto was walking towards the fence, the gate was ten metres to the right of where he was going, though he noticed the gate was also rather crowded, there were people from the other two classes and their parents, not just their own class.

Ino's father finally moved from his statuesque pose, first he gripped his wife's shoulder rather firmly and glared at her, clearly reprimanding her for something. Ino stilled as she noticed this, she had been about to go off onto a rant about how her mom had ruined such a perfect opportunity. She could bond with Sasuke! And her new team mate, not to mention Sasuke and Naruto seemed to be getting close recently and she might've been able to share in that somehow and her mom had just _ruined_ it all. Ino's father then sped off to catch up with Naruto, easily overtaking him and stopping in front of the boy, causing him to stop, also allowing Sasuke to catch up to them quite easily. He put on his warmest smile, though he was terribly nervous.

Naruto could smell the anxiety, the fear coming from the man. He looked up, wondering why he was prolonging this; couldn't they at least leave him alone after they had rejected him? Surely this kind of cruel playing with him made them the monsters, not him. Of course he could smell no anger or aggression, so he tried not to jump to conclusions.

Sasuke was still wondering over these strange events, he had found that Konoha was generally very warm and generous to its orphans, especially those lost in the Kyuubi incident around the time of his birth, because it was a major tragedy which had befallen them all as a group and they had recovered together as well and that somehow made the orphans of the tragedy more worthy of their generosity. Sasuke knew Naruto was one such orphan, but why were they being so cold towards him? Was it to do with whatever had happened nine months ago?

Ino's father, Inoichi, knelt down so that he was squatting, he was an impressively tall man and even when his height was diminished so much he was still only just shorter than Sasuke and at even height with Naruto. He tried to begin communication, though he couldn't think of much. "So uh, Naruto, I hear you have a rather good sense of smell?" Of course he knew how Naruto had come about his sense of smell, he had been present at the meeting nine months ago, he knew of what had happened, he had celebrated quietly with his family, not telling them why for fear of reprimand but feeling the death of the Kyuubi was something worth celebrating, he realised however that the death of the boy was not something worth celebrating, however it had been so easy to put that out of his mind, especially as the boy was not dead long and it seemed he was being taken care of. How easy it is for people to take something for granted. Naruto just peered at Inoichi curiously, wondering what trickery this might be, though he could smell none. Inoichi continued. "Yes well, our family runs a flower shop. Perhaps you would like to come visit it, I'm sure our flowers would smell very nice, what do you say?" Inoichi then looked over to Sasuke. "You too, Sasuke."

Naruto realised that Sasuke must be next to him for the blond man to have addressed him; he quickly looked across at Sasuke, who glanced back before turning back to Inoichi. It seemed to Sasuke that Naruto wasn't feeling very talkative, and his own curiosity was piqued, so he decided he would speak. "Why did your wife act like that?"

Inoichi immediately paled, there was no way he could broach that subject, especially to one of the children, he was sure the _big rule_ was still in force, so he couldn't mention anything about the Kyuubi's relation to Naruto. Naruto it seemed took pity on the man and spoke up. "Don't worry Mr. Yamanaka; it wouldn't do to upset my new team mate." Naruto was referring to the Hokage's threat of treason should someone disrespect him, he smelt the surprise coming from Inoichi but also the fear lessened. Sasuke turned to him sharply, rather confused at the abrupt comment. Naruto seemed intent on ignoring them and was about to head off again however he heard fast approaching footsteps from behind him.

Ino had stared at her mother, whilst her mother got more and more flustered, however her mother wasn't responding, instead she was staring intently at her husband not far away talking to the two boys. Ino became exasperated. It seemed that her father had reprimanded her mother, so her father was in control of this situation, and he seemed to be favourable to the two boys, since he was talking to them. If she played her cards right and pretended to make some assumptions, she could force her father into having the two around for their celebration because he would feel rather awkward denying her assumptions, even if she hadn't really assumed anything of the like. Ah yes it was most likely a mistake for her father to teach her so much psychology so young, whether or not it was useful for their clan techniques.

As such, her plan set, she hurried over to where the three males were, step one would be to lighten the mood. As such as soon as she had come up behind Naruto she slapped him on both shoulders and not very loudly yelled. "Boo."

Naruto had been expecting something, since he had heard footsteps and scented that it was Ino, however he was nonetheless shocked when she slapped him and yelled 'Boo' down his ears. It probably wasn't supposed to be that loud but _damn_ didn't she know how sensitive his ears were?

Naruto's eyes bugged out so that the white was visible completely around the iris and his entire body stiffened. Sasuke was only mildly surprised, since the noise was slight to him and he too had detected Ino's approach, however he couldn't help a small chuckle at Naruto's expense, that expression was priceless. Inoichi too smiled, though he managed not to chuckle. Ino quickly rounded Naruto and saw he was still virtually frozen in his shocked expression and burst out laughing raucously. She bent over slightly clutching her stomach due to the effort she was putting in. By this time her mother had come up tentatively behind the two boys, almost re-joining the group. Ino's laughter broke Naruto out of his shock and he immediately became indignant. "Hey, what's so funny?! Do you know how much that hurt my ears?!" Ino laughed harder and Sasuke chuckled again. Naruto whirled on Sasuke. "You too? That was _not_ funny damn it!"

Sasuke smirked and Ino managed to calm herself down enough to speak. "Oh man Naruto; you should have seen your face, that was _never_ not funny." Inoichi took this moment to stand up again, hoping his height would hide the mirth on his face, however once he stood up he saw the worried and frightened look on his wife's face and sobered immediately. He wasn't allowed his calm for much longer though as Ino had grabbed both Naruto's and Sasuke's arms and dragged them past him, both boys again quite confused. "Come on Mom, Dad, we've got lots of celebrating to do!" Inoichi took that moment to go over to his wife and usher her after Ino and the boys, whispering into her ear to relax, that Naruto was just a kid now and he needed some attention, it didn't seem to have any immediate effect but he hoped she would come around.

---)(---

Since the academy was such a public place it was near the centre of Konoha, near the market district. The market district is where the Yamanaka flower shop resided and it was behind and above that shop in which Ino's immediate family resided, though there was more of their clan scattered about Konoha here and there. As such it wasn't very long before Ino had dragged Naruto and Sasuke all the way there, barged through a door to the side of the flower shop and into the living room. Both Naruto and Sasuke were in a daze, having never experienced anything like this. Sasuke had had Ino and Sakura forcibly hanging off his arm before but they had always been more towards pandering to his whims, well mostly, since his whims were often for them to leave him alone. Naruto was actually rather scared, it was like being in the middle of enemy territory waiting for them to find you, torture you for information and then kill you. Of course he had never experienced such a situation but that was what he imagined it would be like.

Ino forced both Sasuke and Naruto to sit down on a cough and ran off, saying something about drinks or something. Once she was gone Naruto looked at Sasuke, eyes still wide and confused. Sasuke realised his gaze and turned to meet it, his face aloof but he smelt of apprehension and anxiety, he too wasn't comfortable with this. Naruto had been close to thinking of something worth saying, he thought, but Ino ran back into the room, all full of enthusiasm and handed each boy a can of some fizzy drink, one for herself and sat down on a chair which she had somehow materialised out of no where in the time both Naruto and Sasuke had taken to accept the proffered drinks and gaze at them inquisitively. Now that Ino was comfortably seated directly in front of both Sasuke and Naruto, she sipped her drink and smiled at them, still excited. "So, how do you think you did?"

Sasuke looked up from the strange drink to Ino and grunted, obviously he had scored top of the year. He then looked back to it inquisitively, not entirely trusting the strange popping sounds that were coming from within. Naruto completely ignored the question, since he hadn't actually taken any exams today, merely participated because he was told to, which he thought was kind of lame, especially since it had led to this, a situation of extreme discomfort and awkwardness. "Um Ino, What's this?" Naruto indicated the can in his hand.

Ino stared at him incredulously. "That's a can of coke. What, you've never had coke before?" Naruto looked up from the can to Ino, who seemed to be happily sipping the strange dark liquid, to Sasuke, who was still looking distrustful, and back then slowly shook his head.

Ino followed his gaze and noticed Sasuke was also staring at his can. "What, you too Sasuke?" Sasuke looked up and grunted before looking away.

"Oh come on, it's just a drink it tastes really nice, try some." Ino gestured towards it before exaggeratedly sipping her own drink, as if that would help.

Ino's father and mother had arrived just after Ino had sat down and were secretly spying on them from the door at Inoichi's behest, sighting that if they just observed Naruto, she'd realise that he wasn't so bad. Of course he didn't know for sure, as he had no idea about the boy, but he was hoping he was right so that they could avoid anything treasonous, plus his daughter was on the same team as him, so it would be a good idea to be on good terms. Luckily it seemed he was right as Naruto seemed to be shy and naïve more than anything else.

Naruto tentatively brought the can to his lips and sipped some. Immediately the sensation of the fizz spread to his nose and he choked before sneezing, luckily not on anyone, but the action caused him to drop the can. Immediately sending his error Naruto grasped for the can but it was too late, some had already spilled from it to the floor. Sasuke chuckled at Naruto's action, secretly deciding he wouldn't do anything as foolish as that. Ino however burst out laughing again, Naruto's face before he sneezed was priceless.

Naruto immediately began to panic. "Ah crap, I'm really sorry! I'll clean it up, where's the cloths or something. Ino? _Ino_?" Ino was too busy laughing, Naruto panicking immediately afterwards was also funny and she just laughed at him harder, the carpet would be fine.

Luckily fro Naruto, Ino's mother decided to take pity on the panicking boy and came in, she laid a comforting hand on his shoulder, which made him jump before looking at her. "Don't worry about it, you three enjoy yourselves, I'll clean this up." She made her way back out of the living room to the kitchen. "Inoichi, go get the takeout menu, I don't feel like cooking tonight."

Inoichi had been rather startled at his wife's sudden movement but realised that a mixture of her habits as the keeper of their house and seemingly accepting Naruto to not be a threat had caused her to move and keep the poor boy from panicking. He also realised that when she ordered him to get the menu it meant that she would be spending her time annoying the children rather than cooking, oh how he pitied them. He sighed and wandered off to do as told.

Naruto however was still standing up, feeling rather awkward and guilty. Sasuke was quietly chuckling to himself and when Ino finally calmed down enough to talk she tried to calm him down too. "Oh sit down you big baby, stop worrying so much." She got up and pushed Naruto, who was so nervous he froze up, which meant his excellent balance failed him and he fell into a sitting position again, luckily though his reflexes kept his can of coke from spilling anywhere. Ino decided to try again at conversation. "Okay so, now we're Ninja, real Ninja and we get to do cool missions." Ino had expected some participation, Sasuke seemed to be amused about something still and Naruto was staring at her still looking guilty. Ino sighed. "Come on, let's talk about something."

Naruto slowly began to grin after Ino said that, causing Sasuke's humour to slip and Ino to become curious. "I bet I got the top mark on the Taijutsu test."

Ino was indecisive as to what to say, she too thought that, but she couldn't say that in front of Sasuke. Luckily Sasuke beat her to it. "No way, it's graded on speed, form, offence, defence and adaptation." Sasuke stopped, expecting them to understand his point. Ino and Naruto just stared blankly at him. He decided that rather than explain to them how Naruto had had little form above his hips and his defence had been rather lacking, he could make an effort to enjoy himself, just this once. "What that means is that _I_ will have gotten full marks, not you."

Naruto immediately pointed at Sasuke, indignant. "No way! I would totally kick your ass at Taijutsu."

Sasuke just smirked at Naruto and waved his finger at him in an admonishing gesture. "I definitely got more points than you."

Naruto became speechless, there was no way. "No way!" He wasn't _very_ speechless…

Sasuke just nodded to himself.

Naruto decided that Sasuke was obviously wrong so and that he could make a victory out of this yet. "I know, let's make a bet, I bet I got a higher score." Sasuke looked at him incredulously and Ino was content to watch them interact, she had never seen Sasuke or Naruto act so open before, it was heart warming that they would do so with her. Naruto decided to explain. "We can ask Iruka on Monday." Sasuke stared at Naruto for a while.

After having stared long enough that he thought Naruto was sufficiently unnerved, a ploy to lower his confidence so that he wouldn't suggest anything too outrageous, as he suspected he had been planning to do, Sasuke spoke. "What's the prize? Or forfeit?"

Naruto paused, he hadn't thought about that.

Ino however had a _great_ idea. Because it was _obvious_ Sasuke would win, she had the perfect suggestion. "I know! How about the winner gets a date with me?" She grinned widely, glancing at Naruto and Sasuke in turn. Honestly, she wouldn't mind if Naruto won really. He did look rather nice in his new get-up, especially with his new hair-cut; it reminded her again of the Fourth Hokage.

Naruto stared at Ino for a moment before making his thoughts known. "What? No way, what if I win?!" Ino immediately became angry and slapped Naruto over the head. "Oww!"

Ino fumed. "Don't be so rude, you're just covering up your obvious attraction to me." Ino sniffed the air and tilted her head up, looking overly posh.

Naruto chuckled. "Ah yeah, that's it. Urm, I know!" Naruto turned to Sasuke pointing. "Loser buys Winner a bowl of Ramen!" Sasuke just stared at Naruto incredulously, he couldn't be serious… Naruto's pointed hand opened up into a hand-shake gesture. He _was_ serious. Well _one_ bowl of ramen wouldn't really make a dent in his fortune, no harm done. Sasuke slowly grasped Naruto's palm, once grasped Naruto furiously shook it before letting go, Sasuke quickly retracting his hand.

Naruto turned to Ino, who seemed left out. "You can come along too; pretend it's a date with whomever." Naruto figured she would need all the help she could get considering how much Sasuke cared for his fangirls, and she had been very generous so far tonight that he felt like being generous back.

Ino immediately beamed at Naruto before glancing to Sasuke, it was obvious what she was thinking. "Okay!" She seemed to radiate with excitement, greatly anticipating the event, even though she didn't like ramen.

As soon as Sasuke noticed Ino's look he turned from her to Naruto and glared fiercely, Naruto however ignored him and presented a thumbs up to him, which only served to aggravate him further.

It was at this point that Ino's mom made her way into the room, smiling contentedly to herself, holding a small towel and some form of spray… stuff. "Ah so what are you lot talking about?" She knelt down and began to clean up the spilt coke.

Naruto immediately responded, his enthusiasm still going, he _loved_ ramen. "Ramen!"

Ino's mom chuckled at the look on his face. "I see, very interesting."

---)(---

The rest of the evening at the Yamanaka's house was spent in general revelry, they had take-out, which Inoichi was sent by his wife to go fetch, he felt so unappreciated. Naruto and Sasuke finally got their heads around the fizz in coke and actually quite liked it, though they had cut Naruto off at two cans as he seemed to be easily excitable as it was and with the sugar and caffeine, well it wasn't likely to end well.

Inoichi had later regaled them with tales of his adventures as a Ninja, causing Naruto to imagine similar adventures. Ino had heard them before but enjoyed them regardless and Sasuke secretly looked forward to such adventures also, though he would never admit it.

Later into the evening the Hokage had stopped by, miraculously knowing where Naruto was, and offering to walk Sasuke back to his home, it wasn't far from his house anyway. Naruto suspected the ANBU had told him where they were.

On the way out Naruto smelt the flowers from the shop at the front and decided he would definitely take them up on their offer and visit the flower shop some time to smell the flowers.

---)(---

The weekend passed by in rather a blur and soon they found themselves once again and for the last time sitting in the academy classroom, awaiting their team assignments. Iruka once again gave them a speech about their responsibilities as Ninja and wished them luck in their career. He then threw chalk at Naruto and Shikamaru to wake them both up.

The team assignments were as such:

Naruto, Ino and Shikamaru.

Chouji, Hinata and Shino.

Sakura, Kiba and Sasuke.

As Iruka was about to announce that they now had lunch and they should come back in an hour to meet their Sensei, a rather large ball of cloth burst through the window, showering those close with glass, though it was safety so nobody was hurt. The ball exploded near the front of the classroom revealing a banner which was held up by two Kunai, which were presumably within the bundle.

A puff of smoke appeared underneath the banner, with dark purple hair, a tan trench coat, a skirt and, well… some mesh stuff as well, a rather beautiful female Ninja stood, hands on hips staring out at the class.

The banner above her read: 'Team eight Sensei Mitarashi Anko!', Iruka, slightly hidden behind the banner slapped his palm to his face and shook his face whilst his palm was still attached.

Anko paid him no mind, or didn't notice and loudly proclaimed to the class. "Team eight! Follow me!" Anko then promptly jumped out the large hole she had created in the window.

Naruto Ino and Shikamaru looked to Iruka, who had only just unburied his hand from his palm; he looked at them and the wall. "Ah you three had better go. Everyone else, back here in an hour." He then set about taking the banner down.

Naruto was first to jump through whilst Ino and Shikamaru went up to the window and looked at it wearily, many jagged edges making them trepid.

Ino put her hands on her hips and declared. "Well this is a fine way to start out as Ninja."

Naruto just nodded whilst Shikamaru muttered to himself. "Troublesome."

---)(---

AN:Please don't review if you don't bother reading my physics lesson T.T

Hope everyone liked the biology lesson in the playground, all true though I missed out the specifics. Human muscles _can't_ handle those kinds of weights for all the reasons I described. Perhaps someone who is MASSIVE could, example: Gai, but someone of Naruto's size/build, no chance as it is indeed around/above his body weight. I had this planned since I had Gai stick them on him, as a sort of parody of the way people in fics have Naruto wearing stuff like 100 pounds on each limb, please, don't be so ridiculous.

Physics lesson - Re-done. Hopefully easier to understand and fixed the mistake put in there, i hate the way it just carelessly removes all punctuation. (i have to put (equals) because i'm not allowed the equals sign)

Turning moments is the name we give for anything involving lever action, or force relative to a pivot or fulcrum, for example this is how levers work, by exerting a small force over a larger distance further from a pivot we transform that into a larger force over a smaller distance, allowing us to make good use of our strength.

Okay, so for this we will be using an ARM as it's relevant to the story. The arm is 1 metre long, has 10 kilograms (22 pounds or 100 newtons) at the end of it. The arm also has a shoulder muscle producing counter-force to keep it horizontal, the shoulder muscle is attached to the arm at 10 centimetres from the joint in the same direction as the weight, but producing upward force, opposing the force of the weight due to gravity.

Now to work out the turning moments (the force relative to the pivot) we multiply force times weight, classically this is done in NewtonsxMetres That makes: 100x1 which comes out as 100Newtons per metre (N/m)

Working out the turning moments of the shoulder muscle goes the same way but we rearrange the equation, we know the distance and the turning moments required to equal the weight on the arm and we want to find out the pure force the shoulder muscle is exerting. The equation for this is: turning moments / distance (equals) force. Which is: 100 / .1 (equals) 1000 Newtons, which is equal to 100 kilograms or 220 pounds.

First i want to say all numbers here are all approximate, i rounded them up to be integers (whole numbers, my best friend has a degree in maths O.o). Im not sure about kilograms converting to pounds, but i think it's around 2.2 pounds per kilogram. It is also not exactly 10 newtons per kilogram but 9.81 or something, though that's rather specific so i just left it at 10.

Now then, as you can see, weights on the end of limbs multiply by the time they get to the muscles involved. Now I know that Naruto has excellent healing, but that just means if his muscles break they are fixed, as i said in the story it took Naruto two months to get used to it. Of course saying it's ridiculous for someone to wear 100 pounds per limb is true, discarding ridiculous regenerative powers or chakra. I also know that comparing fictional characters to the real world makes them more boring, but that's just the way i am.

What is infuriatingly ridiculous is that people tend to just stick ridiculous amounts of weights on their characters and have them not BREAK their muscles, as described above, for a human even if they have the strength to lift 500 pounds per limb, the energy requirement to do so constantly is enormous and as such the muscles would run out of energy far faster than it is replenished, in the end they would end up eating themselves in an attempt to continue and as such the weight training would make them LOSE strength.

All that's required is a bit of an explanation as to why this isn't happening, it's not hard... regen powers, chakra, whatever... but if you leave it as just their standard human body carrying the weights then it is completely fekkin ridiculous.

If you read that, congratulations you just learned some high-level physics and mechanics ..

AN: RANT! About the use of Japanese in English FF's, the suffixes, -Kun –Chan –Sama, etc. seriously hardly anyone uses them right and it gets annoying. They're an integral part of the foundation of Japanese culture, which has its roots in a very strong hierarchical system, so much so that there are suffixes for names for everyone, not just the wealthiest, which everyone must use to show they know their place in society.

These things are NOT some literary device for people who are too lazy to write any real emotional reactions but instead go. "Hinata-Chan" 'OH MY GOD, WHERE DID –CHAN COME FROM?!' It came from his own goddamn head, don't be fucking ridiculous, that's not how people work!

For starters, the only time people don't think about what they're saying is when it doesn't really matter and they're not paying attention, in which case it's generally yes or no answers they do automatically OR when they're very angry or heated. In the situation of high anxiety where the potential for embarrassment is great, people think VERY CAREFULLY about what they say as they are anxious and fear embarrassment, as such rather than suddenly coming out with some suffix which gives their entire feelings away and makes it so a writer doesn't have to put any real effort in… in real life they would NOT bother saying anything of the sort as it would reveal their feelings, even if they wanted to they likely wouldn't for fear of rejection.

Do you people understand?! Naruto is a kid's show; they put all these suffixes out in the Japanese for the kids to easily interpret what's going on. If you want to write anything of any intellectual value or real emotional content, you need to put more effort in than what is required to let a ten year old understand the situation.

That being said, I have a LOT of respect for the suffix system, I think it's very cool the way you can show respect or disrespect, insults, whatever as part of someone's name rather than making it a separate thing, I admire that about the Japanese language and culture but I also see that it doesn't fit in our own language as it has been in development in Japanese for hundreds upon hundreds of years throughout the evolution of their culture, you can't just transplant that into another language and expect it to work in the same way.

Anyway, anyone who actually bothered to read that, I'm going to make the bold assumption you're not of those people I was ranting about… so I apologize if you feel insulted in anyway and thank you for your attention ..


	6. Morally acceptable tests

Indeed, apologies for the lack of updates, there have been many problems which I wont bore you with but updates will be slow until Christmas when spare time will pick up again, assuming my laptop doesn't break again…

If anyone wants to discuss my story I'm able to reply to reviews or you can post something in the forum I made.

WARNING: the following content was unplanned… I tend to just start typing and see what happens, with a vague idea of what direction the plot will take, it's more fun that way, none of that planning ahead crap, pshh. Anyway, I was actually going to make most of the following scenes short and get to the fun stuff, but I started adding fun things… so yeah anyway if you think it's too random then bleh I warned you.

---)(---

Naruto stood outside the window looking on as Shikamaru seemed to be pretending there was no way out of the window at all and Ino was starting towards the window before backing up again, seemingly reluctant to try out whatever ideas she had come up with. By now it would be impossible to follow their Sensei if it weren't for Naruto's tracking abilities but that didn't mean they should dally around. Stepping forward Naruto addressed the situation. "Come on, just jump through, I'll catch you." To emphasise his point Naruto held his arms out in a rather catch-like position.

Ino looked through the window incredulously. "Are you serious?! What if you drop me?!"

Naruto looked back at her, mimicking her incredulity. "Oh come on, you saw the weights, you can't weigh more than they did."

Ino stamped her foot on the desk, making it shudder slightly. "You take that back loser!"

Naruto just sighed and looked towards Shikamaru. Though he had been hoping he wouldn't have to, when he caught Naruto's gaze Shikamaru knew he would have to do something. "Troublesome." Shikamaru stalked towards the window as lazily as possible then crouched down next to Ino, who was completely oblivious as she was content to glare at Naruto. Shikamaru then jumped in a rather lithe manner through the window, however due to the low height of the window he was unable to turn in the air more than to make his body horizontal.

Shikamaru clenched his eyes shut, his brain already having come up with the most likely scenario's of what would break and how much it would _hurt_ when Naruto dropped him. Luckily though Naruto was easily prepared. First Naruto put his arms underneath Shikamaru, putting more upward force around the shoulders so that the legs could be eased down gently, leaving Shikamaru standing straight up with his eyes screwed shut, barely having registered being touched.

Shikamaru opened his eyes when he felt the sensation of Naruto's arms disappear and found himself standing up, though he had noticed the shift of the air and the weight upon his feet, it was clouded by the adrenalin and the expectation of pain in his back so that his focus had been away from these details. Turning to Naruto he nodded before looking towards Ino, there was no way he was going to miss this.

Naruto smiled quite proud of himself and then looked towards Ino expectantly, Shikamaru also looking towards Ino, though he looked more bored than anything else, it was hard to tell with him. Ino was starting to sweat, everyone had long since left the classroom but she could still lose face in the eyes of her new team mates, not to mention their new Sensei might be spying from somewhere. It wasn't so much the jump or the glass, she was sure she could easily pass through those, it wasn't even the fear of Naruto dropping her, it was more anxiety at what she would do when he caught her. This was exactly the kind of opportunity she had daydreamed about to happen to her, to legitimately land in the strong arms of her team mate, however her team mate within those fantasies had been Sasuke, not Naruto.

She had to hand it to him, Naruto had definitely scrubbed up well since he had disappeared nine months ago but he still wasn't _Sasuke_. Sasuke had those amazingly deep eyes and the quiet strength about him which she just _knew_ was hiding pain, he had lost his entire family after-all. It attracted Ino to him in the same way she had once been attracted to Sakura. Though Sakura had been the opposite, her confidence and beauty hidden behind her pain and insecurities. Naruto didn't have anything like that, sure he now had a rather respectable appearance but he didn't have deep black eyes nor did he have sparkling emerald eyes. He wasn't obscured by his pain nor was his pain obscured by his confidence, he was just Naruto and this was all _wrong_. Why was it _him_?! Why couldn't Sasuke be there, ready with his arms open to catch her as she fell into his gentle embrace.

Ino very nearly fell into a rant at them and the entire situation but eventually she swallowed her pride and her fractured dreams of Sasuke and jumped out the window.

Naruto was almost caught off guard when Ino seemed to instantly snap out of whatever daze she had been in and jumped out of the window with all the elegance and grace she possessed. Spinning mid-way so that her back could arch at the peak of her ascent and following her path through the window, she closed her eyes and dreamt that it would be Sasuke that caught her.

She felt her anxiety grew as she fell but held on to the image in her head. Almost too gentle to notice an arm wrapped around her shoulders, providing firm support and even more gently and subtly an arm caught her thighs and let them swing around until she was on her feet. She was so caught up in her daydream and the soft caress of the silk _Sasuke_ was wearing that she didn't engage her legs when her weight was put upon them and immediately fell backwards.

At first Naruto had done the same thing he had done with Shikamaru and he had just guided Ino from her fall back onto her feet as gently as he could however as soon as he had let go of her shoulders she had fallen backwards. Reacting quickly he placed his arms back under her shoulders and her legs; he had to drop to his knees to be low enough to catch her before she completed her fall.

Ino had realised too late that she had fallen from her standing position due to being in a daze and had shut her eyes again and braced for impact with the floor, however once again, though less gently this time, _Sasuke's_ arms caught her and she felt warm as he held her.

Naruto looked to Shikamaru from Ino, whose eyes were still shut in his arms. Shikamaru just shrugged, also confused as to why she would be so clumsy after a rather impressive feat of agility and grace. Before Naruto turned back he felt Ino's hands touch his chest gently and it felt nice, he looked towards her to see her blushing and smiling and her eyes still closed, then he heard her murmur to herself. "Mmm Sasuke…"

The bottom immediately fell out of Naruto's stomach, he felt so rejected, all of the warm feelings she had invoked immediately washed away. Ino had barely opened her eyes by the time Naruto had dropped her the remaining foot between where he had held her and the ground.

"Oww." Ino immediately sat up and rubbed her head which had bumped the ground, though it was grass so it didn't really hurt. "Hey what's the big idea?"

Naruto had already turned away by this point and began walking away, well more stalking away. "She went this way, let's go."

Shikamaru sighed and turned to follow, though going slowly enough that Ino easily caught up with him. When she did she was still dusting stray bits of soil from her clothes. "What's his problem?" She gestured from Shikamaru to Naruto, as if he wouldn't have figured out what she meant.

Shikamaru turned to her and waited until she looked at him to answer. "I would drop you too if you called me Sasuke." Shikamaru then walked off a little faster so that he could catch up with Naruto.

---)(---

Anko had actually been planning to make her loud entrance, dazzle the class with her beauty and saunter out of the room towards the Academy grounds where she could do the whole 'meet the team' thing, however when she had made her entrance she had immediately realized she had done it _again_. Though this time she was an _hour_ early, she had thought she had the timing perfect, that teacher had stopped talking, but _nooo_ he had to let the little brats out for break before meeting everyone, damn him! So Anko had done what any Ninja does in an ambush, she had retreated to the cover of the nearest trees to formulate a plan and told her team to meet her there.

Once she realized her team wasn't going to be arriving within the few seconds she had anticipated, she went to the edge of the trees of the Academy grounds and spied on her new team. She spotted Naruto, the only one she knew anything about, do some crazy impossible acrobatics out of the window and _alter_ his trajectory _mid-air_ so that he didn't smack into the floor, very snazzy. She then watched his reluctant team mates accept his help to get out, not bad team work; they definitely had potential in that area if she could take this as an indication. Of course when she saw Naruto drop the blond one and stalk off in her exact direction she figured she had better go back a bit and prepare some sort of introduction thing, hopefully make all this seem planned. It wouldn't be hard since she _had_ planned the crazy entrance bit…

---)(---

By the time Naruto had tracked Anko down she was in a clearing a little ways into the forest proudly standing underneath a replica of her classroom banner. Feet shoulder width apart, hands on hips and a maniacal grin in place, Anko was well prepared for how shocked and surprised her new team would be by her sexual appeal mixed in with her ferocity and deadly demeanour, oh how she would enjoy their shock and surprise.

Though Shikamaru had set off to catch up with Naruto by the time they reached the forest, he had not managed to do so, probably due to the little effort he put into the entire thing, Ino trailed slightly behind Shikamaru, still apparently grouchy about the dropping thing.

Once Naruto had entered the clearing he looked straight to the banner, then below to Anko before looking for a suitable place to sit down and wait, coming to the conclusion that their first team meeting was to be held there. Shikamaru walked in second, he saw the sign first as it was so predominant in the situation and through his peripheral vision spied Anko had a rather large cleavage on show through the un-closed gap in her trench coat, as such he made sure to only look at her face before sitting down, no matter how curious he was he would much prefer not to give anyone as troublesome as her such material on him, no matter how slight. As such he lazily looked around from her face to the floor and found a seat next to Naruto, on the near side of course.

Ino however stopped dead, all grumpiness completely forgotten at the sight before her, not the banner, for no matter how predominant it may have been it was completely discarded as a blur in her periphery as she stared straight at Anko's breasts, completely dumbfounded. There was only a trench coat and some mesh-stuff and a skirt of some sort covering her body, the trench coat seemed to only barely cover her nipples, for unless there was some weird lump perfectly placed on the edges of her coat Ino could definitely see nipple poking through.

At first Anko had been rather disappointed, Naruto didn't seem to be in a mood receptive to her mind games and Shikamaru seemed completely unfazed, she held on though hoping to scandalise Ino, however she became a little unnerved when Ino fixed onto her breasts more like a desperate man than a twelve year old girl. Of course she ignored her unease at Ino's look and brought out her planned mockery, tough it had been planned for Naruto and Shikamaru, Ino would have to do. "So, like what you see?" Anko brought her legs together slightly to stand up a little straighter and swayed her hips expertly in doing so, causing Ino's attention to be momentarily drawn to Anko's rather small skirt, before going back to the cleavage.

Ino's reaction was slightly delayed by Anko's sultry movements but after her eyes locked back onto Anko's nipples she reacted verbally. "It's not fair!"

Of course, Anko had been hoping for something with which to mock Ino, a blush or stuttering or something. Of course it's easier to mock guys as there's definitive evidence of their reaction. Anko quickly glanced to Naruto and Shikamaru who were seemingly disinterested, Shikamaru looking at clouds and Naruto playing with his rather sharp looking nails.

Of course both Naruto and Shikamaru were listening intently, it's just that Naruto didn't want any attention to be brought to him as he was still feeling rather rejected and nothing makes rejection worse than being the centre of attention. Even if people aren't thinking it, it leads to one thinking that people are thinking how sad and pathetic they are and 'let's give him some attention to cheer him up.' Naruto also had a mild headache as he managed to get confused within his own thoughts.

Shikamaru had already figured out that Anko liked to act blatant and then scandalize or embarrass people as a method of taking control of a situation, giving her the perceived moral high-ground not by being more moral but making others seem less so, an effective tactic but one he could avoid easily, by not bothering with her. Yes he liked people who he could deal with by not dealing with them, they were his favourites, aside from his friends of course who he wouldn't mind too much to actually deal with. As such Shikamaru was gazing at the clouds, as he is often want to do, however obviously keeping an ear on the conversation.

After a mild pause where Anko decided it was apparent that Ino wasn't going to elaborate on her rather abrupt and irrelevant outburst, Anko decided to find out what that was all about. Dropping the sultry poise, for the most part anyway, Anko gestured for Ino to elaborate with a rolling waving hand motion, of sorts… "What's not fair?"

Ino abruptly pointed, still sporting a rather shell-shocked expression. Her finger targeting directly between Anko's breasts. Anko spared her cleavage a quick inquisitive look before looking at Ino for further explanation. "First billboard-brow get's on Sasuke's team then he drops me," Here Ino points to Naruto before pointing back to Anko's chest. "Now my Sensei not only has _enormous_ breasts and is hot but wears _no clothing_! It's _not fair_!" Ino emphasized her last comment with a stamp of her foot and a huff.

Anko raised her eyebrow, well this was _way_ too far away from her original plan for some kind of recovery, so why not just go with it? She folded her arms under her breasts as she put most of her weight on one leg, jutting her hip out, it was a comfortable stance but it would also likely incense Ino. "Okay so, what's so un-fair about my sense of dress and who's Sasuke?"

Ino gawked momentarily. "Sasuke's the _last Uchiha_ he's the hottest guy in the village!"

Anko's eyebrow lowered. "Isn't he twelve? Little young to be hot, don't you think?"

Ino shook her head vehemently. "No no no, of course not!" When Anko's only reply was an incredulous stare Ino decided to move onto the issue of Anko's clothes, which were currently more annoying than the entire Sasuke situation. "And your clothes are just making it worse! Look at them, I can see your nipples through that!" Ino shook her finger for emphasis. "Guys _love_ boobs and it's so unfair that yours are out on show and I don't even _have_ any yet and what if Sasuke sees you and your boobs? How am I supposed to make him fall in love with me _then_?!"

Anko was a little shocked but more than a little pleased by that reaction, she was rather proud of her breasts and it was always a stroke to her ego when someone was jealous of them. "Well, I'm sure you'll have nice boobs one day, but I'm sorry I can't do anything about the Uchiha, it's just a fact of life that men will fall in love with me at first sight." Anko flicked her hair out to the side dramatically with her left arm whilst striking a pose, leaving her right arm under her breasts, inching it up slightly for effect. Before Ino could react to her statement she continued on. "Well what's this about him dropping you?" She gestured towards Naruto. Of course she knew as she had watched but that would be no fun, she was already getting to love her new team. Ino was obviously as open to teasing as Kurenai, with greater jealousy and potentially a sense of propriety, both of which Anko could prod at to her hearts content. She wasn't so sure about the boys, who were still ignoring the entire proceedings though, of course she – Mitarashi Anko – was not to be put off so easily, nay!

Ino paused momentarily, torn between outrage at Anko's statement and answering her question. She decided to answer Anko's question, that way she could remove attention from herself for a little while, because no matter how outraged she might be, she was still slowly realising how embarrassing some of the things she had said were. 'Oh my god I talked about my boobs…' "He said he would catch me." She pointed to Naruto. "But he dropped me and stalked off as if he's got some reason to be angry at me." She turned to Naruto. "Jerk!"

Anko raised her eyebrows. "Well then." she waited for Naruto to look at her, which didn't take long as it was obvious she was addressing him. She was happy to note his eyes strayed a little on their way from his nails to her face, yes she would have fun teasing her new team. "Why did you drop Ino after saying you'd catch her?"

Naruto raised his eyebrow, he knew she was watching, he had scented her heavily at the threshold to the forested area before the trail led off, he guessed she was messing with them and he was not impressed. Of course her question was valid since she would obviously not have been able to hear Ino's mutterings from such a distance. That didn't stop him feeling indignant at the question for he was obviously the one who had been wronged, not Ino. "Well apart from the fact that I _did_ catch her, _twice_." Naruto looked at Ino for a moment before looking back to Anko. "I'm not going to put up with some Sasuke-induced fan-girl fantasy while I'm holding her, so I _stopped_ holding her." Naruto paused, expecting a reaction but none was forthcoming so he added a little to shift attention from himself. "Well if she would've not fallen over when I put her down then I wouldn't have dropped her."

Anko looked over to Ino whose anger had lessened visibly, as she was no longer grimacing slightly. Anko idly thought of how for someone supposedly well-versed in psychology as a scion of the Yamanaka clan; she was very easy to read. "So, you called him Sasuke?"

Ino looked at Anko before looking away, not really wanting to answer that question now that it had been brought to light it seemed screamingly obvious how rude that had been of her.

Anko decided that was enough and she should get back on track. "Yes well, boobs or not I'm definitely sure calling out some other guy's name doesn't make you attractive." Ino looked at Anko a little confused, not really getting the sexual reference but Anko pressed on lest she figure it out and the entire situation would end up degenerating into another talk about her boobs, not that she would be totally averse to such a conversation per say, but there were things to be done. "Right well then, introductions! You!" Anko pointed to Shikamaru, since she had had the least response from him overall. "Introduce yourself, add details! Go!" She looked at him expectantly, as did Naruto and Ino.

Ino was slowly coming to the conclusion that she had just made a fool of herself. Hopefully Shikamaru would be too lazy to introduce himself and the process of getting an introduction from him might buy her enough time to regroup and be ready for when her team would once again have their attention drawn towards her, hopefully they would also forget how she had so blatantly stared at Anko's boobs. It's not like she personally liked them, it was more along the lines of her being overwhelmingly jealous and outraged to the point that she forgot how to _not_ do stupid things, a skill which was high on her priorities for every-day life, such as breathing and looking beautiful, that sort of level.

Naruto had mostly forgotten about Ino's rejection when she had begun ranting about Anko's boobs, he had glanced at her to discern the direction of her gaze and found it to be firmly on their new Sensei's chest. Now he was imagining in random rotation: Anko's boobs, Ino with boobs and general attire like Anko and various reasons why Ino would be so drawn towards Anko's chest area in general. Luckily for his sanity he had missed Anko's sultry hip swaying, otherwise his fragile mind would have been shattered under the stress, good stress of course.

Shikamaru wasn't entirely sure what to say as an introduction. They were to be a team of Ninja who would need intimate knowledge of each other's abilities and styles so there was a great deal of potentially relevant material to cover just from that but also they were going to have to put their lives in each other's hands later on in their career. Shikamaru glanced to Anko from the sky as he continued to ponder. Well maybe sooner rather than later for that with the way she acted. That meant that personal details or secrets etc. would be appropriate material here also as a beginning to forming such trust. Noticing the withering glare coming from Anko and not bothering to look to the others lest he be doubly assaulted with expectant gazes Shikamaru decided to begin, slowly, and plan the rest as he went along. "My name is Nara Shikamaru, my clan, Nara, specialize in shadow based techniques of which I know the most basic, the Shadow Bind. I like to look at the clouds in the sky whenever possible, my best friend is Akimichi Chouji and I dislike troublesome things. My goals in life are to become an average ninja with an average wife and two point four children, the average." Shikamaru leant back and lifted his gaze to the sky again. The clouds currently above him were wispy, he liked the wispy ones, they changed shape much faster. Nobody mentioned the ridiculousness of how many children he wanted, figuring he would either have two or three.

Anko was a little surprised at the inclusion of some information relevant to his abilities as a Ninja as such were not normally included in people's definition of an introduction. This was also ideal as his team mates would likely take his introduction as standard and add similar information about themselves. She pointed to Naruto first, seeing that Ino was still avoiding eye contact with everyone. "Okay, whiskers, you're up."

Naruto bristled at the obvious nickname he had been given however he didn't react. He rationalized that he did indeed have marks on his cheeks which resembled whiskers and as such the moniker given him was not inappropriate, he would gauge whether or not she was truly being disrespectful in time and then act appropriately. Once he had made this decision he idly thought how he had never really cared about whether or not people were being disrespectful of him before, this certainly was not something he had picked up from anyone else, though his interactions of the past nine months had been with very formal people, or those who were just plain bizarre and as such he hadn't noticed this in himself, he hoped it was as drastic as any other changes he may not know of. Deciding to just copy Shikamaru's introduction Naruto began. "Okay my name's Uzumaki Naruto, to my knowledge I'm completely incapable of conventional uses for Chakra but I have other abilities which compensate." Naruto tried his best to not feel depressed as he glossed over the part where Shikamaru had talked briefly about his clan, for Naruto had nothing of the sort. "I'm in the middle of re-defining the things I like, I like fighting or perhaps just action and I like things which smell nice." Again Naruto glossed over the part where Shikamaru spoke of his best friend, something else Naruto didn't have. "My dream is…" Naruto paused for a bit, he had almost stated that he wanted to become Hokage, more reflexively than anything else but that was certainly no longer true. He didn't really have any dreams, but he did have a goal set to him by Sesshoumaru. "My goal is to become strong."

Everyone present had picked up on how Naruto had glossed over some topics which Shikamaru had covered in his introduction. Whilst Shikamaru and Anko knew it would be best if they left the subject alone Ino didn't. "Hey what about…"

Whatever Ino was about to say was cut off as Anko forcefully interrupted her. "Blondie!" Ino halted abruptly and turned to Anko, even though she could mean Naruto she was still sometimes referred to as such and reacted accordingly, obviously Anko was indeed talking to Ino. "Your turn, introduction. Hop to it!" Anko tapped her foot in an overly dramatic manner meant to indicate impatience, though she also managed to indicate immaturity by how dreadfully overacted the entire gesture was.

Ino glanced to Naruto, clearly still curious about what he had failed to mention before acquiescing and turning back to Anko, careful to keep eye contact, even though it made her feel slightly uncomfortable. "Um… My name's Yamanaka Ino, my clan specializes in mental and spiritual manipulation, I know the Spirit possession technique, which is the basis for most of our techniques." Ino paused and put her finger to her lips as she thought. Originally she had seen a model do this in one of her magazines and had adopted it, through persistence the action had actually become subconscious. She decided not to mention anything about Sasuke, her reasons being two-fold. Firstly she didn't want to mention anything which might remind everyone of earlier events and also she highly suspected Anko wouldn't exactly think highly upon her affections towards him. So she went with her other pastime. "I like flowers, Mom runs a flower shop and I get to help make arrangements for customers sometimes. My best friend is… well it used to be Sakura." Ino paused, debating whether or not to share with them what had happened. Well they would probably find out eventually and her dad had always said how close a team should be, though she thought her dad was probably a little too close with his own team mates. "A while ago she decided that instead of friends we should be rivals." She again skipped over the bit about how they were rivals for Sasuke's affections, feeling it was a bit petty and not wanting her new team to think of her as such. Brightening up as she moved on to the next topic Ino continued. "I want to become a really strong Ninja! Maybe a medic like Tsunade or a Mistress of Illusions!" Ino waved her hands about as she mock cast an illusion upon the nearby flora. Of course the flora made no reaction, not that they would even if an illusion were to _actually_ be _successfully_ cast upon them, for as standard; flora were not reactionary entities.

Once Ino was done all eyes turned to Anko. Anko was decently impressed by Ino, a girl with real ambition was something rare not just these days but back in her own time at the Academy, there had been few girls who had actual ambition. Of course as Anko was deciding what to do next, perhaps do some sort of test for the hell of it, even though they had all been given a free pass from any such tests, or test them to see their capabilities, perhaps just jump straight into training and see how much she could make them suffer? Anko cackled lightly to herself as she imagined doing so. Coming back to reality she noticed all eyes upon her as if they expected something from her, something so blatantly obvious that it should go without saying, which it currently was doing. "What?" She hoped they weren't going to comment on the cackle, she didn't do it too often…

Shikamaru had deigned to look at Anko after the moment of silence had begun to stretch on but he couldn't really be bothered to vocalize his expectations, similarly Naruto figured that Ino would be a much better candidate. Ino however gave no time to such thoughts but instead to frustration as Anko seemed to completely shirk her turn at introducing herself, the nerve! "Well…" Ino drawled so as to mock, she continued when Anko seemed to get angry. "Aren't you going to introduce yourself?"

Anko gave no outward reaction but inwardly she was berating herself on her forgetfulness, sure she never forgot anything when she was on missions, but that was when the blood was pumping, life or death situations… the rest of the time she could be a bit ditzy. Not in the blonde bimbo sort of way, but her attention tended to flit from subject to subject. Of course, years of having such a habit had taught her to mask her realization when someone or something highlighted her lapse, instead casually brushing away suspicion by just adding to her standard 'I don't really care' attitude and reputation by seeming as if she didn't care to such an extreme that she would just ignore current happenings unless anchored to them. It had been a long while since anybody had noticed how ditzy she really was.

Of course she had just spaced out again, but as she looked to her new team to gauge whether or not they realized how ditzy she was, she realized they were waiting for something, specifically from her. That was when she remembered she was supposed to do some introductory stuff. Quickly getting to it lest her mind wander off again, she began. "Okay then. I'm Mitarashi Anko your new Sensei. I'm proficient in Taijutsu, thrown weapons, Ninjutsu and I can summon snakes. I like Dango, fighting and violence, tea, my breasts and…" Anko paused for effect, having deliberately put something which would throw them off before her pause. "_Blood._ I have accomplished all but one of my goals, none of which are particularly your business…" Anko pouted and put her finger to her lips in much the same way Ino had, though Anko had one arm crossing her chest, propping her breasts up, which held up the arm upon which the finger was which was placed there. Also she moved most of her weight onto one leg, making her hips much more prominent. Ino seethed in jealousy again whilst Shikamaru didn't notice and Naruto did his best not to notice. "My best friend is Yuuhi Kurenai." Here she glanced to Ino. "Genjutsu Mistress. I normally perform Assassination or combat intensive missions, so if you want training for tracking or something, you'll need to ask someone else." Anko rounded on the three. "Any questions?"

Immediately Naruto's hand shot up and waved around. Anko looked at him, eyebrow cocked and waited for him to speak. Naruto figured since she was looking at him, that was as good of a go ahead as he would get. "I want to summon snakes too!"

Anko continued to look at him with her eyebrow cocked or a moment before looking off to the side and sighing. "Aside from the fact that to summon you need to have signed a contract and aside from the fact that such contracts are extremely valuable, Summoning is a Ninjutsu technique." Anko looked back to Naruto. "You did say that you can't perform those, didn't you?"

Naruto's eyes widened and his mouth gaped open ever so slightly. As soon as he had heard Anko say that she could summon snakes he had thought of how incredibly awesome that would be. He had read of the Sannin and their abilities to summon creatures of enormity in size and power to aid them in battle, he had envisaged himself upon an agile and tenacious snake with his whip flailing around them destroying powerful enemies as a farmer would scythe his crop. Surely there had to be a way, he had plenty of energy to spare, it didn't exactly take a lot to make a whip or jump off air, and he didn't _have_ any other abilities, at least not yet. Senses didn't count as they came at no cost to his energy reserves at all. "But… But there's got to be _some_ way!?" Naruto practically begged.

Anko sighed and put her index finger and her thumb to the bridge of her nose, already disliking the feeling of having to deny her new students, especially one who seemed to eager and hopeful. She remembered days when her own eyes were capable of widening to such a degree. "If… _if_ you were to somehow find Jiraiya and get him to draw you a summoning tattoo, a seal on your arm which contains the necessary incantation to summon… and _if_ you could still use it with whatever disability you have, then I _suppose_ I'd let you summon snakes." Anko looked at Naruto sternly. "That's a lot of big 'ifs"

Naruto stared at Anko for a moment before grinning, it didn't take a genius to figure out that he would definitely try doing _just_ that. Looking around her at Shikamaru and Ino, Anko iterated one more time. "Any other questions?"

After a moment Ino raised her hand, once again Anko merely looked at her with her eyebrow cocked. So Ino voiced her query. "When do we start missions? And do we have a training schedule or something?"

Anko smiled and Shikamaru got a small feeling of dread deep down, the kind of dread he gets when his mother wants him to _do stuff_. Immediately he snapped to attention, wanting to know what kind of missions and how many he would have to endure, not to mention _training_, eugh. Anko's grin gave Shikamaru no comfort and the lack of comfort grew as she began to speak. "Well, our team is special, we are completely exempt from D-rank missions, which means we won't be starting for a while, not until you're ready for C or B ranked missions, good huh? None of those chores." Anko sounded disgusted. Shikamaru wasn't entirely sure whether to be happy or sad, that meant none of the menial labour tasks he knew were assigned to the rookies before they were deemed ready for more active roles, but that also meant more training and no way of getting out of said active missions. Anko continued on after a slight pause. "As for training schedule, well we're going to be meeting in our training grounds – number twenty six – at nine every morning and leaving when I'm satisfied you've trained enough for the day. Once we're done here we'll do a nice _assessment_ to see what kind of training we need to be doing. Okay?" Anko ended her sentence as chipper as a civilian schoolgirl but the way she had said the word 'assessment' had slightly frightened all those present.

Shikamaru decided to ask a question, partly in the quest for information but also partly to postpone, if only for a few fleeting moments, whatever Anko had in store for them. As such he raised his hand. Anko looked at him but instead of the eyebrow she asked him. "Yes?"

Shikamaru paused for a moment, merely so that he could take up some more time. "Why are we exempt from D-rank missions?"

Anko glanced over to Naruto briefly before looking back to Shikamaru, the message clear; if you want any more information than I give you, ask him. The vague response she gave only seemed to highlight the fact that there was a lot to this seemingly simple question. "I guess you could say… we have a _sponsor_." Anko grinned cheekily, happy with her vague response and bounced on the balls of her feet momentarily. "Any more questions?" She was met with silence. "Right then! You lot, let's get started!"

---)(---

The 'assessment' as Anko phrased it consisted of Anko making them run around until they dropped to see how well they could… run – which took three more hours for Naruto than for Shikamaru and Ino. Then throwing kunai and shuriken at stuff, literally. "Naruto throw a Kunai at that leaf on that branch – no not that leaf, dufus!" After which she had them show her their techniques, she was especially intrigued by Naruto's, both his description of 'the crazy energy transporty thing' and his whip, which almost made her salivate. Once done they gathered around in the same clearing in which they had begun their introduction, not far from the academy. They had been running around through the trees after all, none of this 'easy' running on flat ground business, oh no.

Ino and Shikamaru still looked pretty tired and scruffy while Naruto was somehow once again in top form, barely even a smudge of dirt upon his person and absolutely none upon his still pristine clothing, which seemed to infuriate Ino somewhat, though she didn't have the energy for full-blown anger. This was especially notable since both Ino and Shikamaru had had approximately three hours rest in which Naruto had still been running, yet still had not recovered, especially not to the extent Naruto had.

Anko had actually been glad that she decided not to bother shadowing her team as they ran laps, for she would've been pretty out of breath too running for that long. Normally travelling at even greater speeds for longer periods of time wasn't a problem in and around Konoha because of the dense, high and sturdy forestry which allowed Ninja to jump from branch to branch using Chakra. This gave them ample rest time mid-air and as their travel was aided by Chakra, lessened the strain upon the muscles. Running was a different matter, whilst it could theoretically be aided by Chakra, the strain on the muscles was only increased as the only method would be to stick one's feet to the ground to increase traction whilst the muscle had to do all the work of producing forward momentum. Obviously this was not a common practice, especially not one Naruto was capable of. Add to this the fact he had been going almost as fast as he could the entire time and you had something astounding.

So now they were sitting around in a random clearing which seemed to have been adopted as their area for the day, even though it was particularly random in location and was in fact part of the grounds of the academy the three had attended, Shikamaru hoped they wouldn't convene here again as it was much further from his house than their assigned training grounds, Ino and Naruto were currently dreading whatever was next.

Anko was standing before them and pouting, she took a few moments from the time everyone had successfully convened before she began addressing them, a few moments in which she pouted for what seemed to be no particular reason. "Well, I'm not sure really what other tests I can give you… Really I'd like to know your pain tolerance, ability to cope with life threatening situations and lots of other stuff that testing you for would be." Here Anko raised her hands to either side of her face with her index and middle fingers out curved and curling up each time she spoke a word. "Immoral practice for a responsible teacher." She put her hands down. "Like it's immoral to see how likely you are to freeze up and be stabbed." Ino blanched at the implications and suddenly felt severely out of her depth. Shikamaru had long ago accepted such scenarios were part of his future but was still disconcerted that the only thing keeping them safe from this woman was some flimsy moral reasoning which seemed to have been imposed upon her. Naruto was still anticipating what they were going to be _doing_ rather than what they _weren't_ doing. "Anyway the only thing I can think of to assess would be your Taijutsu technique, unless anyone can think of something I missed?"

Not really expecting an answer as her question was intended to be rhetorical, Anko was a little surprised when Naruto raised his hand immediately. Anko looked at him and raised her eyebrow, one of her gestures which they had associated with her early on and so Naruto knew that it was her way of telling him to go ahead and ask away. "You never tested or asked how good our senses are."

Anko left her eyebrow up as Naruto's question was definitely unexpected. "Yes well, aside from bloodlines which give enhanced senses or higher functions to standard senses, peoples senses are generally rather standard, you don't count Naruto." Anko shot Naruto down before he could complain. "Regardless of how good your senses are I'm no good at tracking anyone, I assassinate. To assassinate you take people unawares. People being tracked either expect to be followed or are stupid, neither of which falls into the assassination category, SO that doesn't really matter." Anko tapped her finger to her cheek, finally looking at Naruto directly rather than the surrounding foliage. "Besides, how good can your senses be anyway? It's not like you're going to be some _uber_ tracker with a better nose than an Inuzuka or have super hearing or anything, and I _know_ you don't have a Sharingan or something, so it doesn't really matter." Anko stood up, brimming with energy once again. "So! Let's get ready… what is it Naruto?" Anko stopped mid pep-talk as Naruto was waving his hand around.

"Hey that's not fair, my sense of smell is way better than Kiba's!" Anko made a correct guess that he was an Inuzuka, based on the name and the fact that she had mentioned Inuzuka's in relation to that particular sense only moments before hand. "And my hearing is really good. If I concentrate a lot I can hear someone's heart beat, well sort of… It's like it's always there but ignored… Anyway if someone like Kiba is a good tracker then obviously I'm awesome!"

Anko recovered quickly from the surprise, that was rather unexpected, she knew he had a better sense of smell and hearing but she figured he would be at a level somewhere around Kakashi's, not beyond anyone she had ever heard of… nonetheless she wasn't particularly interested unless he had any special abilities and she wanted to beat on them a little, hey she was bored. "Okay, that's impressive and all but we're not going to be doing much tracking so unless you have any special abilities mixed in there then we're moving on." Anko paused for a moment, just in case he actually _had_ special abilities.

Naruto paused for a moment, unsure of whether or not he had anything that fit under that category but decided to give it a shot, always one to try at being special. "Umm… I'm not sure if it counts but I can smell emotions, sort of, I'm still learning what each smell means but I'm getting there. I can even smell lies, well Lord Sesshoumaru said I could smell 'Deception', but that's lies, right?" Naruto fidgeted with his pointy nails, or claws as he liked to call them, running the point of one along the underside of another one at a time, picking out specks of dirt, a way of keeping his concentration away from the possible embarrassment of if he were to not actually be special in any way.

Anko was definitely impressed by this, immediately scenarios based upon her work with the interrogation squad came to the forefront of her mind. "You say you can tell if someone's lying?" Naruto nodded at her. "You're tall for your age…" Naruto looked at her incredulously. "Okay, that was too easy, my favourite colour is red." Anko thought this one would definitely be possible, she did like the colour of blood after all. This time Naruto took an experimental sniff of the air.

"You're lying."

Anko nodded, okay easy enough to guess, what if she lied again, he'd probably expect her to tell the truth to try and catch him out. "Okay, my favourite colour is purple." Definitely possible, considering the colour of her hair.

Once again Naruto took a sniff of the air. "You're lying again."

Anko decided to tell the shocking truth this time. "Okay, my favourite colour is pink."

This time as Naruto took an experimental sniff Ino began snickering to herself, immediately everyone looked at her. "What? Sorry… You just don't seem to be the pink type…" Ino decided to stop talking, lest she anger Anko. Anko however was silently cheering, that was definitely convenient, it was true that her favourite colour was pink, she had always loved it. She was even secretly jealous of the family of pink haired people, though nobody would ever find _that_ out.

Naruto turned to Anko, already knowing she had told the truth as he had already sniffed the air. "You were telling the truth." Anko smiled, the possibilities were endless, with a little training at conversation and interrogation Naruto would be able to trick people into discussing the topic he needed information on, even a simpleton can manipulate a conversation into yes or no responses and for Naruto those were the ticket to the truth, yes the possibilities were excellent.

Ino however looked at Naruto and gaped for a moment before pointing at him and shouting. "Your nose is broken! If that were true then she'd probably be jealous of _forehead girl's_ hair, eugh!"

Anko decided to keep quiet, figuring the aforementioned girl was one of the pink haired people, whose family name she still hadn't bothered to learn.

Naruto rose to the challenge, righteous indignation flaring at the insult to his abilities. "My nose is _not_ broken! And there's nothing wrong with Sakura's hair!"

Ino immediately assumed he was comparing her own hair to Sakura's, a thought process based off the countless times she herself had compared their hair and she was still insecure about it. Of course she wasn't about to react as if that were the case. "Pfft my hair's way better than Sakura's icky pink hair."

Naruto didn't bother responding and turned his attention back to Anko, who was rather happy with the argument as it turned the focus away from potentially embarrassing information about her and lead to new topics for teasing her new team. "Ah Naruto didn't respond, that means he likes Ino's hair best!" Anko pointed to Ino's hair whilst looking at Naruto, just to be absolutely sure everyone present understood what she was saying. She then turned to Ino. "Now Ino, next time Naruto saves you or something, whisper his name into his ear softly and rub your arms and legs together slowly, okay?" Anko smiled and Ino imagined her giving her a thumbs up, even though Anko was still standing there as if she weren't teasing her team, nope, not at all.

Naruto sat there going slightly red from embarrassment, truthfully he didn't have any preference between Sakura's and Ino's hair colour, both were bright and pleasing to look at, but he definitely preferred Ino's hair style. He thought it was a little messy the way Sakura's hair splayed out on her back, though it was long and luscious which he thought was nice, Ino's elegant ponytail was definitely better. He also liked the random bits of hair each had framing their face, or in Ino's case framing one half of her face as she only had hair down the right side of her face, he thought any hair style with bangs of some description was a definite bonus, this was one of the reasons why he had had his hair cut the way it was now, the bits down the side of his face and the extra length on the spikes on the top of his head allowed gravity to get a more firm hold of them, giving him some pseudo-bangs of his own, though they still stuck up so they didn't necessarily count.

Ino, completely oblivious to Naruto's reaction reacted to Anko's teasing immediately. "What? Why would I do that?"

Shikamaru had to try not to laugh at that point, deciding both of his team mates were slightly too dense if someone of Anko's intellect were able to manipulate them so effectively. Though he decided it wasn't so bad as he was quiet by nature and they were both pretty loud, this meant the majority of the teasing would be directed towards his team mates and not himself, as they would be drawing attention to themselves and away from him, though he still thought they were all a little troublesome, they were also definitely entertaining.

Anko bent forward towards Ino, caring little for what the action did to her bust, her face seemingly conspiratory even though she remained almost two metres away, making any form of whispering or other conspirational methods of communication impossible, the effect was still there though. "You wouldn't want to be dropped again would you? And didn't it feel nice lying in Naruto's arms there?" Anko actually did whisper, even though they had established Naruto's hearing to be above that of anyone else present, she obviously wasn't _actually_ going for secrecy.

Ino paused before responding, it was true that she felt secure in his arms only moments after having been flying through the air precariously and on a trajectory which left no room for recovery, after all not everyone can use the air itself as leverage for their acrobatics. In fact for just a moment she felt just how she dreamed she would feel if Sasuke were ever to hold her in his arms in a caring and tender way, Naruto had been surprisingly gentle with her until he had dropped her that is. Ino was still formulating a response when Anko jumped in, having taken the pause to be more generic silence and was happily drawing conclusions. "Ah Ino can't respond, then it's settled, Naruto from now on you have to rescue Ino and she will whisper your name whilst fidgeting sensually due to the close contact with someone so _manly_." Anko clapped and stood up straight once again. "Yes, and since I'm obviously more likely to be doing the saving, I'll rescue _Shikamaru_ and he will whisper my name in a lusty daze whilst fidgeting sensuously, right Shikamaru?" She looked to Shikamaru as if he would ever give confirmation to such a statement.

Shikamaru mentally groaned, afraid that anything like groaning aloud might be miss-construed as a response, something he wanted to avoid. It was too good to be true, apparently their Sensei had enough energy and teasing to go around and he was far from the type of person to trade verbal barbs with anyone, especially not with someone like Anko. It was also slightly unnerving how appealing the image of himself cradled in Anko's arms, pressed against her breasts was, of course his image didn't include any writhing or fidgeting or whispering or anything of the sort.

Anko pouted. "Oh you're no fun." She then realised that they had gone far off track, luckily none of them seemed to have noticed this was due to her lack of attention span and attributed it to her general personality, excellent. "Well then, Taijutsu assessment! Ino, Shikamaru you two fight each other, I'll have a Shadow Clone watch you. Naruto, you get to fight _me_. No inappropriate groping unless you ask nicely, okay?" All three of them groaned outwardly and sagged, only Shikamaru picking up on the fact that her clone would be a viable conduit for information, making the assumption that the clone would verbally share its opinions, meaning it would have to possess similar intellectual capacity to the original.

---)(---

The Taijutsu assessment had been a rather pathetic affair, Ino and Shikamaru both approached their spar with lacklustre and trepidation though they did put in the effort to keep their technique up and not make mistakes, lest Anko find an excuse – a _reason_ to torture… no to _train_ them more than she would _anyway_. They had then continued resting whilst they watched Naruto fight Anko.

Naruto and Anko's fight – because calling it a spar would imply that at least one of them was being civilized, but no that was not the case, it was a fight – was horrendously one-sided with Anko toying with Naruto and trying with great success to rile him up. He wasn't angry per-say but extremely frustrated and annoyed with how she seemed to easily predict his actions and how he found it impossible to do the same against her. Anko called their fight off only a minute or so after her Shadow clone dispelled itself, giving her its memories and the opinions it had formulated on Shikamaru and Ino. Ino paid no mind to the matter but Shikamaru noticed and assumed that she had dispelled it on purpose, for as a seasoned Ninja she was unlikely to screw up in a training environment, especially one which she is in control of. As such he postulated that perhaps the shadow clone's opinions maybe even its experiences themselves would be transferred to Anko when it was dispelled. If this were the case then he was suddenly very interested in the Shadow Clone technique for he could already think of hundreds of strategic advantages he could obtain with such a technique. Of course he also postulated that either the clone would be easily distinguishable from the original to the seasoned Ninja or it would require an excessive amount of Chakra to create a facsimile not only in mind and body but in having Chakra and he assumed Chakra pathways. Surprisingly it only took Shikamaru the minute or so between the clone dispelling and when Anko called an end to her spar with Naruto for him to make these conclusions.

"Okay people!" Anko was once again standing in front of her three students, legs shoulder width apart and hands on her hips, Naruto was sitting down grumbling noiselessly to himself. "I'll be brutally honest, Naruto is the only person out of you three currently displaying talent in Taijutsu. Conversely, Naruto is the only one of you three who displays absolutely zero formalized training in Taijutsu, as evidenced with the many flaws in his technique and how easy it was to rile him up, causing even more flaws to appear." Naruto glared but said nothing, accepting that she was telling the truth and consciously holding the fact she had singled him out as showing talent at the forefront of his mind. "Fear not, Taijutsu is simple. Hard work equals skill, talent helps but without the work to get your body in shape and the technique, talent is pretty useless." Anko turned and began pacing back and forth, her oscillations being only two metres long. After a few back and forth's she stopped and turned back to them. "Okay, what we're going to do to start: You two." She pointed to Shikamaru and Ino. "You're going to spend afternoons working on your family techniques, if there's going to be nobody home, get something to work on from them when they _are_ home, preparation is the way to success as a ninja. You!" She pointed to Naruto. "Your afternoons are going to be spent in training area forty four or with me doing… well we'll get to that. Mornings start at 9 in training area twenty six and we will mostly be doing Taijutsu, specifically hand-to-hand and throwing weapons, with some chakra control every now and then for variety." She quickly pointed to Naruto. "For you that means jumpy or transporty or whatever needs work." Naruto glared at her blatant disregard for the _cool_ names he had come up with – extra jumping and energy transporting. After a pause Anko decided that since it was their first day together as a team and she _had_ just put them through everything she could think of, well, everything she was _allowed_ to put them through which she could think of, they deserved a rest before getting into their training. "Right well I'm out of tests, you lot can have the weekend off and then training starts. Ground twenty six, nine in the morning!" Anko then waved dramatically, causing her breasts to visibly jiggle, all three of her students suspected she had practiced for that effect to come across as it had, then abruptly she disappeared, wisps of smoke floating away in the breeze were the only evidence she had been there at all. Well that and her foot prints and her three surprised students.

Whilst Ino and Naruto were having thoughts about how they _must_ learn how to do that or at least a suitably flashy alternative in Naruto's case, Shikamaru had already gotten up and taken off towards home, fully intent on forcing the Shadow Clone technique out of his father, laziness be damned he just had to know how it worked and if it worked how he thought then he had to, he just _had_ to be able to use it to skip training. He reasoned that his father being the foremost master of all known shadow techniques would know it, even though intuitively he knew that the term 'Shadow Clone' was metaphorical due to how the clone was metaphorically a shadow of the creator and was in all probability nothing to do with the shadow techniques his family was able to utilize. But he was still confident his father would know it. And so it was with his hands in his pockets and an uncharacteristically brisk pace that Shikamaru left the clearing that had become their impromptu testing grounds for the day without Naruto or Ino noticing at all.

Only moments later did Naruto snap from his daze, at approximately the same time that the last vestiges of the smoke from Anko's disappearance also disappeared. Immediately he noticed Shikamaru had left and assumed he had gone off home, he could smell something along the lines of a question lingering where Shikamaru had been sitting, Naruto decided it would be curiosity, or it would be until he was proven wrong, since it smelt so similar to the smell people gave off when they were asking a question.

Ino's mind however continued to drift, she noticed Shikamaru had gone just slightly before Naruto but that just sent her into more thoughts, she was feeling slightly guilty about her actions towards him earlier and also she wanted to spend some time with him, Shikamaru too though she guessed that would have to wait. She had been planning for a little while since she had found out about his sense of smell to take him on a tour of her families flower shop, because she thought some of them smelt gorgeous, now that was even more of a good idea as Naruto had introduced himself as someone who liked things which smelled nice. Of course she was nervous, was he still mad at her? Would he just say no?

Naruto continued to sit there, pondering why Ino smelled of fear, perhaps not quite fear though his vocabulary wasn't quite good enough to supply the word 'apprehension' for him, so he stuck with 'almost fear'. He figured that she was thinking about something so he would just leave her to it, he personally was wondering what he was going to be doing this weekend, he was tempted to investigate their training area, and the other one Anko had mentioned, forty four. He was also tempted to go bug Sasuke, it's not like it was hard to find him, just follow the sound of screaming girls and presto, Sasuke was not far away. Naruto had decided that he would indeed go bug Sasuke and then maybe drag him to get some food with him before either investigating the training grounds or just going home to bed but his plans were cut short as Ino turned to him and addressed him. "Naruto." Naruto jumped slightly as he had completely not expected Ino to talk to him, he figured she was brooding about Sasuke or something equally depressing for him to think about so he had planned to just leave her to it, whatever 'it' was. He turned to her quickly, trying to hide his embarrassment at having been startled so easily. "Do you want to come to my flower shop and see the flowers? Some of them smell really nice!" Ino seemed rather enthusiastic in her question.

Ino had been nervous and tried to cover it up with enthusiasm, which kind of scared Naruto because it just ended up making Ino seem weird, but he did like things which smelled nice and he had had fun at Ino's house last time he had been there and it was connected to the flower shop. Mind made easily, Naruto could go bug Sasuke some other time. "Sure, that sounds nice."

---)(---

All the way back Ino had basically talked at Naruto about flowers and what they meant and stuff, Naruto had no idea about any of it, Ino neglected to mention colour or smell to him in relation to any of the flowers so all he got were impossible to remember names of flowers and outrageous meanings, to him anyway. After all how could a flower mean love? Surely the willingness to give ones life to save another meant love? Or maybe when that person was never far from your thoughts or perhaps when they gave you warm feelings? Certainly not a flower though… Maybe Naruto needed to learn more about this kind of stuff.

As they arrived Ino took Naruto into the front of the flower store, it was fairly late in the afternoon now and business was generally slow so Ino's mom was in the back working or something according to Ino, who shouted out to her so that she didn't think they were customers due to the bell ringing as they entered. "Hi mom, it's just me. We're going to be looking at flowers." Ino forgot to specify exactly who 'we' was but it didn't really matter, surely her mom would come say 'Hi' if she were interested. Ino grabbed Naruto's hand as he had paused at the threshold to the store and quickly dragged him on. "Come on, let's look at the roses first! They're just here, they smell so sweet!" Of course Ino was being literal and not saying they smelled good and using the popular colloquialism 'sweet' to mean good, often preceded by something such as 'dude'.

Naruto had paused at the threshold of the store for a completely different reason to what Ino had assumed though, he could hear a conversation going on in the back of the store, nearing the area which was labelled as the Yamanaka's home rather than their store. Normally Naruto just ignored random conversation and didn't bother processing what was being said as there was generally a lot happening within his entire hearing range and instead focused on what was happening with relation to him, in this case what Ino was saying. But this time he picked up on the fact that the conversationalists immediately stopped talking when the door opened and begun whispering to each other harshly but quietly when it was discovered they didn't have a customer. That meant that they didn't want what they were talking about being listened in upon, even accidentally and as such his curiosity was piqued. He didn't want to but now that he was thinking about what they were saying, his attention was on them and he couldn't make it stop, couldn't shut his hearing off no matter how much he may have wished he could.

_'Shh. Now calm down, it's not that big a deal, he hasn't changed' _

Who hasn't changed?

Ino continued to drag Naruto around, oblivious to the fact his attention was elsewhere. "Mmm Red roses are for romance, only ever give one or twelve unless you want her to think you're not serious. Doesn't it smell nice?"

Naruto distractedly sniffed the air and even with his lack of attention he could pinpoint many decidedly pleasant smells, the most prominent being that of the red rose currently under his nose, which was indeed nice. "Mmm yeah, it smells nice."

_'But you said he wasn't a demon-' _

Naruto stilled, though Ino didn't notice as they hadn't been moving, still standing around the rose area.

_'-now you're telling me he _is_ a demon.' _

Naruto realised they were talking about him, Inoichi must've been at the council meeting those months ago but only just now decided to tell his wife what he knew about Naruto, what Naruto was. It must be because Naruto was on the same team as their daughter now. But Inoichi had been nice to him, there was no deception or malice, why would he change his mind like that?

"This on is for friendship, I don't think it smells as nice, but then friendship isn't as sweet as love, right? Here smell."

_'It's not like that, he was _murdered_ but he's alive again.' _

Naruto sniffed the white rose under his nose and nodded absently, luckily this was enough for Ino as she proceeded on.

_'It's proof, he's a hero. He always has been, don't you see?' _

Naruto could hear the desperation in Inoichi's voice as he whispered, as if he were praying for his wife to agree, he prayed she would.

"That's enough for roses, my favourite are lilies, aren't they so elegant?" Naruto paid little attention as he was drug along the shop floor.

_'But he's a _demon_ the things that come from _Hell_.' _

"Isn't it pretty? Have a smell! It's not as sweet as red roses but nothing else is better." Ino practically shoved a lily into Naruto's nose and he once again absently sniffed the flower before nodding.

This time however it wasn't quite enough to satisfy Ino, who seemed to have caught on to the fact that he was distracted. "Hey are you paying attention?"

_'He's just a little boy! A little boy who was _murdered_ for keeping us safe! Don't call him that, it's not right.' _

Ino grabbed Naruto's shoulders and turned him to her, causing his attention to shift and for his eyes to focus on hers. "Hey damnit, what are you doing spacing out like that? I thought you wanted to come smell the flowers?"

Naruto fumbled for something to say to placate Ino whilst his emotions were in turmoil. "Um… Uh yeah, I did – I mean I do!" Ino's father was defending him so vehemently, but her mother seemed to be unaffected by whatever he said. Would he have to deal with such blind discrimination his whole life? Would everyone immediately label him as evil and ignore how good he may have acted if they found out?

_'But he's a _Demon!_ Ugh I'm going to go talk to Ino, we'll talk about this later.' _

Naruto heard a sigh and shifted his head to look towards the door to the back where he could hear footsteps getting closer. Ino looked to the door as well, confused by his actions.

_'Remember what I said about treason, it'd be best to keep this to yourself.' _

The footsteps paused for a moment.

_'Fine.'_

Then they started anew and quickly reached the door.

Ino's mother walked into her flower shop to see her daughter and Naruto staring at her as if they had known she would appear right then, Ino still had her hands braced on Naruto's shoulders, keeping him facing her even though they were both looking towards Ino's mother.

Ino would normally just say hi to her mom and ignore her in favour of what she had been previously doing, but in this instance it seemed that the reason Naruto was distracted _was_ her mom, which made little sense to her, why would her mom of all people distract Naruto? She looked from her mom to Naruto to find that he seemed to have gone pale, as if some horribly truth had been revealed to him. She looked to her mom who was staring at Naruto and she seemed to almost be frightened of what she saw, she looked back to Naruto to find that he was sniffing the air. What the hell was going on?

Ino's mother had frozen once she had seen Naruto, she wasn't necessarily afraid of him, though there was some fear there but she wasn't sure what to do, afraid of the consequences of acting out of turn and afraid of the way he was looking at her, it seemed as if she had been found out before she had even thought to attempt to pretend she didn't know anything and it was wholly unnerving.

Naruto just stood there, he waited for the hate or the anger, he anticipated that she would shout at Ino to get away from him and that she would throw him out of their flower shop but Ino's mom just froze where she stood and it made Naruto even more afraid, he was scared to sniff the air to find out but he could tell from the look on her face. Finally he did sniff the air and it was immediately obvious that she was afraid, deathly afraid and she had only looked at him, he hadn't moved since she had entered the room and it hurt. It hurt so much more than any anger or hate that he was expecting, it hurt because last time he had seen her she had smiled at him and now she was _afraid_ just because of his very presence. It hurt because he was afraid it would always be like this, he was afraid Ino would find out and she would act the same way.

Naruto looked to Ino, who noticed the movement in her peripheral vision and looked at him, she just seemed confused, she wanted to know what was going on and that frightened him too, because what if she did. Naruto quickly backed away out of Ino's grasp. Ino stepped forward as he back peddled from her. "Hey Naruto-" She got no further as Naruto quickly dashed to the door and left the store. Ino looked to her mom. "What the _hell_ mom?" She then looked to where Naruto was escaping. "Ugh!" Ino quickly ran after him.

Once she had exited the door she stopped as she saw Naruto launch from the street onto a two storey building and from there onto a three story building before he was out of view, there was no way she could follow him, not yet anyway. She turned back into the store to find her mom still there, looking on with trepidation. "What the hell was that mom?!"

At that moment Ino's father walked out from the back to see what the commotion was about. "What's going on?" He looked from Ino to her mother and a deep sense of foreboding settled in his stomach as his wife looked at him with tears glistening in the rims of her eyes.

---)(---

On a completely unrelated note, the story "prove the pervert wrong" by Kyuubiman has been officially given up on… I find this to be extremely tragic, I cry on the inside. I urge everyone to read it and anyone brave enough to contact Kyuubiman and have a go at continuing his formidable legacy! Of course, I'm not brave enough as his story is of daunting quality and I would hate myself for crapping it up. On a side note, any professional level authors out there, have a crack at "Fox Hound" by Krakens Ghost… Even if you are professional level writers though it might be a bit hard… (Obviously you have to ask permission to continue someone elses story.)

I also have advice for writers, this is how I check whether or not I think I'm writing well enough. Take a story or two which you like and you think are well written and try to write so that you're at least vaguely that good, it's tricky since everyone's style is different but the main emphasis is putting effort into your writing and not just typing out the bare minimum. I personally tend to compare myself to Christopher Paolini, KyuubiMan, Daneel Rush -Koushi- and LD 1449, to name but a few… you can try this yourself at home kids


	7. Training Plans and Friends

Merry Christmas! And a Happy New Year! Enjoy.

AN: Everyone here should look up "Dead Famous" by Rozefire and "Tales from the House of the Moon" by Resmiranda, NOW they are Inuyasha fics and they are TOTALLY **BEEP**ING AWESOME. They are two of the first ever fanfics I read and as a result I have rather demanding tastes... I feel everyone should be equally demanding, of others and of themselves, this is how progress is made after all. Now on with the show!

Point of contention… can't anyone spell?! Seriously, it's not hard to press the 'abc' button on word if you can't, terms and conditions even states you should at least spellcheck your work before submitting it! Come on people, it's sad and I actually stop reading otherwise decent stories because of how annoying it is.

---)(---

Naruto was jumping along the roof tops but he wasn't entirely sure where to go. He didn't want to go back to Sarutobi's house because he would end up either moping and brooding or telling Sarutobi what had happened and possibly getting Ino's father in trouble, not to mention probably receiving a well meaning but rather disheartening lecture from the old man which would be well meaning but would do nothing to cheer him up what so ever. Truthfully he wanted to be alone, or even better to be alone and break something, something tough to break.

Idly Naruto contemplated the idea of trashing the face of the Fourth Hokage on the monument but decided against it as he would only be fuelling the view that he was a demon.

Naruto thought back to what Sarutobi had said to him the day he had killed Mizuki, that he would only ever be a monster if he chose to become one, or if he consciously let himself become one and he hadn't done that so why… why was she afraid of him? What difference did it make what he was? Was it not enough to be who he was?

He continued on his random path criss-crossing the village as his tumultuous emotions raged and he had no idea where to go, only that he wanted to get away, he was already away from the Yamanaka's shop but he still wanted to escape, to get away from this place which shunned him, from the people who shunned him.

Coming to the conclusion that he wanted to be alone more than anything else he listened for where there was most sound and went in the opposite direction, so as to be away from anyone.

---)(---

Inoichi was trying to ignore how his wife seemed shell shocked and instead had to assess the situation, he wasn't sure but he was making the assumption that someone had somehow overheard their conversation, even though they had been whispering lowly the entire time, it would account for why his wife was so shaken up as he had only just mentioned to her about the potential consequences of letting the secret out. Obviously the main source of information would be Ino as she would also have heard whatever her friend had heard and he could make a risk assessment based on that. Of course he would have to be careful not to give any information away. "Ino, what happened?" He had to concentrate to ignore his wife for the moment as she made a rather pitiful sniffley whiney sound as he asked this.

Ino was getting rather annoyed and upset the longer it had been since Naruto had left, she had been really enjoying herself and then her mom goes and does something and he runs off and _then_ her mom decides to get upset, as if it weren't her fault. As such when she answered her father she virtually shouted at him. "Mom just somehow chased Naruto away!" She then looked to her mom. "Why did Naruto run away from you?"

Ino's mom was completely unsure what to do, she figured Ino hadn't overheard their conversation and as such hadn't got an explanation to give to her daughter, plus Inoichi seemed to be far more composed than herself and so she decided to leave it to him to sort this out, even so she looked at Ino and tried to find words to tell her, but she didn't even know what she wanted to express so there she just floundered.

Inoichi however was dealing with a dilemma. On one hand it was beneficial as there had been no secret leakage since it was Naruto himself who had overheard, however it was also Naruto himself that they didn't want to upset by letting the secret out and so in essence they had skipped the middle-man – the rumours or gossip that would have resulted in someone else overhearing – and skipped straight to hurting Naruto's feelings somehow. Of course this meant there was generally no chance of leakage unless Ino knew as well, which he didn't think she did, meaning he could deal with the problem, he just had to figure out how. First make sure Ino doesn't know. "What do you mean your mom chased Naruto off?"

Ino looked back to her dad and paused for a moment. "She chased him off." He just stared at her. "Naruto spaced out and she came in and looked at him and then he looked like he was scared then he ran off and jumped over those buildings." Ino pointed towards the wall of the shop in the direction of the buildings Naruto had jumped onto, assuming her father was capable of figuring it out.

Inoichi made a snap decision. "Okay, honey you stay here, I'll sort this out. Ino sweetie, you come with me."

Ino was about to ask where they were going and insist someone told her what the hell was going on but her father put his hand on her shoulder and they disappeared from the room.

Ino's mom was left on her own in the store, she slowly walked to the back of the store where the flowers were stored and sat down, the shell shocked expression still firmly implanted upon her features, Naruto's face before he ran off replaying through her mind, guilt slowly building within her as she sat there.

---)(---

Naruto stopped his running on a random rooftop not because he was tired but because the feeling, the need to escape had fizzled down to a feeling of general anxiety, he still wanted to _break_ something but more than that he didn't want to be on his own, he still didn't want to go back to the Hokage's house and the only other friend he had at all really was Sasuke. That thought alone was horribly depressing. He thought back to his team but he barely knew Shikamaru and Anko even less and he most definitely didn't want to see Ino, which sadly left him with Sasuke, if he could find him that is.

Resigned to his fate and feeling too lonely to change his mind, Naruto bounded off to the Uchiha complex in hopes of tracking Sasuke down.

---)(---

Sesshoumaru was currently frustrated by the entire Inuyasha situation. He was at a dilemma where there was no sure way to test Inuyasha's strength until Inuyasha himself had rectified his problems. It had begun when he had commissioned the forging of Tokijin.

He had happened upon the scene of a battle in which Inuyasha's sword the Tessaiga was broken by the fangs of one of Naraku's spawn. He had then commissioned a blade to be made from these fangs, using his own sword Tenseiga to preserve the life force of the head so that the fangs would retain their power.

However when he went to find what was taking Jaken so long in retrieving his blade he found Jaken to be sliced in two. Whilst he had at first considered leaving Jaken like that if he were so incompetent that he would end up in such a state in the first place he decided that it would not necessarily be fair to do so and it was his responsibility as Jaken's lord to look after him.

Decision made he had unsheathed Tenseiga and revived Jaken. Upon questioning Jaken had revealed that the smith had been possessed by the evil blade he had created for Sesshoumaru, a blade he had named Tokijin.

Promptly Sesshoumaru took off hot on the trail of the smith and his stolen sword, leaving Jaken to reattach his torso on his own.

When he arrived Sesshoumaru witnessed the possessed smith be destroyed under the cutting aura of Tessaiga even while Tokijin itself radiated a greater cutting aura, Inuyasha's body was capable of standing up to it where the smiths had not been.

Immediately Sesshoumaru had retrieved his sword from where it had fallen, gaining the attention of Inuyasha and his band of friends, including Totosai, the smith who forged Tenseiga and Tessaiga for his father. Sesshoumaru had been insulted when Totosai had been presumptuous enough to warn him that Tokijin would possess him, as if he were some lowly Youkai such as the smith who had forged it. Immediately Sesshoumaru had forced his Youki and his will upon Tokijin, bending it to his will and submission.

After that he had attacked Inuyasha, determined to prove himself the greater warrior, to find out if Inuyasha was truly capable of strength on the level of himself and their shared father, or if Inuyasha truly was weak and merely being carried by the sword Tessaiga.

What annoyed him was that since Tessaiga had been broken and mended, likely by Totosai, Inuyasha had either lost the strength to wield it, or something had disrupted the flow of Youki between Inuyasha and his blade, making utilizing any of its abilities extremely taxing upon him, even just it's enlarged transformation which acted like a protective barrier would seem to have been enough to cause Inuyasha great trouble. Regardless of whether or not he could wield the blade effectively he could still wield it and so his own physical performance should be unaffected, all in all that just made things easier.

It was when Inuyasha had thrown away Tessaiga in frustration, choosing to fight without it that Sesshoumaru had discovered his dilemma. Initially he planned to continue with the battle, he could test Inuyasha's abilities and tell whether they were on par with those he had shown previously whilst using Tessaiga or if they weren't, and in doing so but as soon as he had begun to press Inuyasha in battle Inuyasha had begun to be taken over by his Youkai blood, meaning that his mother's side was basically being possessed by his father's strength, as the only demonic power Inuyasha possessed came from his father. As such Sesshoumaru's opportunity had degraded into finding out how well a human male would have performed if possessed by his father's power, something completely worthless to him. As such he had immediately disabled Inuyasha and sought answers.

What he had found in questioning the Bokusenou. What he had found was that Tessaiga was responsible for keeping his father's power under control within Inuyasha and without it he would be consumed by that same power. So Sesshoumaru couldn't properly test Inuyasha with Tessaiga as he was unable to wield it, and he couldn't test him without it was he would just be consumed again and possibly lose his mind.

Sesshoumaru considered visiting Naruto to check his progress, to gather more information upon the situation but decided against it, it wouldn't do for Naruto to get attached and it wasn't likely that his training had progressed particularly far as of yet, all that there was for him to do was wait. Sesshoumaru despised waiting for things.

---)(---

When Naruto arrived outside the Uchiha complex he could immediately tell where Sasuke was, there was a long-worn path of his scent coming from the Academy district on one path, he obviously had no interest in exploring. Tentatively Naruto followed the scent, wary not to disturb the district as he felt he might be disrespecting those who died here if he did. It only took a few moments to tell that Sasuke wasn't in whatever might've been his house as Naruto heard a faint thud coming from what seemed to be a grassy field with some thick trees on the outskirts, possibly going off into forestry. He figured Sasuke had to be over there and training or something, since nobody else's scent was around.

Once he neared the training area he found himself in front of a fairly large solid wooden gate and a large stone wall, obviously the Uchiha's had been aiming for privacy when they had built the place. Naruto had heard the same thud sound another two times as he had neared the place and had determined it to be Sasuke landing after a fairly large drop of some sort. He figured it best to wait for another thud before shouting out to Sasuke, to make sure he didn't distract him, he figured Sasuke wouldn't likely end up hurt if he were startled but he would definitely be more grouchy if he were startled mid-move than in between.

Thud.

Naruto took a deep breath. "OY! SASUKE!" He waited and after a small while was rewarded by the sound of footfalls crushing the crisp grass. After a small while during which the footfalls grew louder, the gate creaked open to reveal a rather sour looking Sasuke.

"What do you want Naruto?" Naruto didn't really want to tell Sasuke he wanted some company so he didn't feel quite so overbearingly lonely.

Thinking quickly Naruto came up with the perfect solution to his dilemma, he wouldn't answer! "What ya doin' Sasuke?"

Sasuke noticed how Naruto completely and blatantly dodged the question but decided he didn't really care that much, he wasn't in that good of a mood at the moment. "Training"

Naruto was glad Sasuke didn't press his question. "Cool, what kind of training?! I heard you landing or something in there, you jumping around?!"

Sasuke was surprised that Naruto had heard him, he had been the opposite side of the field in the trees that lined the edge and it was a good distance away, not to mention he was pretty damn quiet in all his acrobatics, including landing. He had to be. "I've been training my kunai throwing."

Naruto looked kind of confused. "Huh? But you always get perfect scores, why would you train _more_ at throwing kunai?" Sasuke seemed to grow more irritated, at least that's what Naruto thought he was doing, he still wasn't that good at reading people, even with his sense of smell helping. "Eh, can I come watch or something?" Sasuke decided to ignore his irritation since he could now get back to training.

"Sure." Sasuke promptly walked off, leaving the gate open for Naruto to follow. Naruto stuck his head through the gate and looked around quickly before entering and closing the gate and following after Sasuke.

Naruto caught up to Sasuke but didn't say anything as they walked across the training field, he figured that he could talk or amuse himself once Sasuke was back into his training and thus less likely to stop and throw Naruto out of the field.

Once they arrived at the section of trees Sasuke had been training at Naruto noticed a variety of targets all with Kunai in the centre at various heights around a large tree. The only exception being a target behind the tree which had a kunai lodged in the outer rim.

Sasuke was busy picking his kunai out of the targets, trying successfully for the moment to ignore Naruto and figure out what he was doing wrong, he had not been able to get greater accuracy on the last target behind the tree, his success was a mixture of timing and luck rather than heightened skill. He had to be missing something because the only other alternative was that his brother was _that_ much better than him and that couldn't be possible, it just _couldn't_.

Naruto walked up to Sasuke. "Hey Sasuke, how come that one target isn't a bulls eye like the rest?" Sasuke paused in his gathering of kunai before resuming.

"The object of this training is to jump from the middle tree and hit each target with kunai whilst falling, the target you mentioned requires throwing one kunai at a steep angle then another to intercept from a shallower angle causing them to ricochet and the second kunai to hit the target. I have not yet completed this training." Sasuke explained the training as calmly as possible, trying not to show how frustrated he was with the entire thing.

Naruto walked over to the target and looked from it to where Sasuke would probably be falling, he could check later. The mentioned tree which mostly blocked the view of the target split near the bottom into two trunks, one of which tapered off whilst the other became more vertical after the split and formed an impressively tall tree. The split had many thick branches going across it meaning it would be very difficult to get two kunai to hit each other as well as hit the target unless you were pretty high to begin with, Naruto looked higher and saw that higher up there was a large gap. Naruto looked at the target just as Sasuke was coming to reclaim the Kunai, he noticed it was embedded with a sideways tilt compared to the direction to the tree, which meant it had come from the side of the tree, not the gap in the middle. As Sasuke stooped down to the target to retrieve the kunai Naruto began questioning him on the training. "Say, where do you jump from up there?"

Sasuke rose from the target, and delayed placing the kunai into his holster, he looked at Naruto curiously before looking up and pointing to near the top of the tall trunk of the tree, presumably he would be falling down the other side into the big gap between the close trees. To Naruto that meant he had ample time to look down and see the target and throw a kunai, but then he had to get one in through the gaps in the branches lower down to hit it, he could see why this would be harsh training, there was no way he could do that… however the kunai should be embedded into the target without any sideways angle if that were the case.

Naruto turned to Sasuke again only to see him about to scale the tree. "Oi Sasuke, how do you do the kunai bouncing thing? Do you knock it round the tree from that side?" Naruto pointed to the side of the tree that the kunai had looked to have come from, it did seem to be the easier of the two sides, though not by much.

Sasuke paused and turned to Naruto, impressed he had gathered that much, he had always thought of Naruto as being rather stupid, perhaps he had been mistaken, if only somewhat. "Yes."

Naruto nodded and paused for a moment. "Come here for a moment would ya?" Sasuke closed his eyes to calm himself, he figured Naruto didn't meant to be irritating and he was normally much calmer than this, it wasn't Naruto's fault that he was so frustrated with this training. He opened his eyes and dropped the foot he had made it up the tree and walked over to Naruto.

Naruto stood in front of the target and beckoned Sasuke to come next to him. He obeyed hoping to get whatever it was over with. Naruto then pointed up at the tree and he reluctantly followed Naruto's gaze. "If you jump from up there, then you can see through that gap there to here, and throw a kunai and then throw one through there, right? I'm not sure but I reckon it'd be easier since you're only knocking it down rather than sideways… what do you think?"

Sasuke stood next to Naruto, momentarily forgetting his presence as he looked dumbfounded at the tree before them. There was no way, in just a minute that Naruto could've figured out how to complete this training where he hadn't, he also didn't want to believe he had been doing it wrong this entire time, however Naruto was right, by removing the sideways plane from the trajectories it would become exponentially easier, the difficulty added by the branches wouldn't be nearly as large. Sasuke turned to Naruto and stared for a moment, before looking back to the tree, then back to Naruto. He paused for a moment, he didn't want to admit it, especially to Naruto but he was grateful for the insight. He decided to try it out before making any thanks or such. "Hnn… I'll try it."

Sasuke quietly congratulated him on his cool composure, he had been practising it for a long time, it was his way of keeping a distance from people, he didn't want to become attached to anyone only for them to die on him again, so he kept his distance, still he always had trouble when he was conflicted or stunned, he had the urge to revert to his younger self and stare in awe at such times, as he had been wont to do at his brother.

Quickly climbing the tree, out of practice and newfound eagerness, Sasuke was quickly at the top and immediately he jumped off, he had always done it this way, preparing to be in the air in practice was foolish as in a combat situation you had to dodge or jump quickly, everything had to be done quickly so he didn't allow himself pauses in his training in such instances, better to get it wrong here than when his life depended on it, he couldn't fume and grit his teeth before trying again if he was dead.

Naruto jumped and jumped from thin air, flipped and landed high on a branch of a nearby tree, in this action gaining more height than Sasuke had gained in his climbing, though it was only for a few moments that he held the height advantage as Sasuke continued his ascent, he was purposefully away from any targets but in a good position to watch, this was entirely fascinating.

As soon as Sasuke had left the tree he twisted his body and threw the first kunai at the hardest target whilst he could still see it, though there was no way to get a kunai past the branches, he could see the tree it was against and so he could aim the kunai correctly, he quickly threw more kunai, using the momentum of his arms to spin him in his descent, as he turned full circle he glimpsed the target through a small hole but that was all it took, with more skill than someone his age had any right displaying he threw a kunai through a small gap through which he couldn't see the target, he then landed with a dull thud on the floor just as a light 'tink' sounded off behind the tree he was next to, followed quickly by a dull thud as the kunai embedded into the soft wood of the target.

Naruto quickly jumped down and ran over to the target, overtaking Sasuke who had paused to check he had not missed any of the other targets before checking the last one. Of course he hadn't missed but there was no excuse to become lax. He rounded the tree to see Naruto grinning at him and pointing at the target, which had a kunai embedded deep into the centre. A small smile appeared on his face. This was definitely a good moment, this had been one of his brother's hardest training exercises, he had admitted such himself. To be able to complete it first time upon realizing his error was a great boost to his confidence. It might have even been beneficial to have been completing the training wrong, for it had felt natural and almost easy to perform the manoeuvre in comparison to how difficult it usually was, which meant it was possible his skill level, at least in this one specific area of kunai throwing, was greater than that of his brother. This would be the first time he had surpassed his brother, the first of many.

He turned to Naruto, unable to hide the pride and happiness he was feeling, completely caught up in the relief from his previous frustration, the pride he was feeling. He didn't really care if he was going against his own oath and not keeping Naruto – who came under the category of everyone – at a distance, he just thanked Naruto, who deserved it for his help. "Thanks, Naruto." It wasn't just this training either, he realised he had been presumptuous that once he had found a way to complete the task that was it, he had not continued evaluating the situation. To survive in a high level fight one had to continuously evaluate everything, making assumptions and especially sticking to them was dangerous. This was something he already knew but it's always hard to put knowledge into practice, this was a good reminder.

Naruto smiled, he could tell how happy Sasuke was, he _smelled_ happy, he couldn't quite associate any specific emotions with it, it was just happy, all things happy, right there. He was glad, he had felt so rejected only a short time ago and now he had helped Sasuke and he knew Sasuke was grateful, which meant he was accepting of Naruto. Naruto no longer felt lonely, so he smiled. "No problem."

Sasuke went to the target and grabbed the kunai before walking off and going about gathering the other kunai. Naruto happily followed him. Out of no where Sasuke began making conversation, something highly unusual for him. "So why are you here anyway?"

He continued collecting Kunai for a while before realising that no answer was forthcoming. He turned around to see Naruto who had apparently been gathering kunai as well but he had frozen dead, staring at Sasuke, the kunai he had gathered had clattered to the ground next to him.

Naruto had gone from happy to frozen with fear in an instant, he really wanted to tell someone, anyone what had happened, he hoped for them to console him and say it's okay or… something, anything but he was so afraid that if he told Sasuke that Sasuke would react the same way, reject him. He didn't really care if it was fear or hatred or anger or whatever, it was the rejection he feared. He could handle Sasuke hating him for something he had done, something he _himself_ had done to Sasuke or which Sasuke hated him for but he hadn't done anything to deserve the hatred and rejection he was constantly subject to, had been _killed_ over, he didn't know what to do.

After a while of Sasuke looking at him Naruto decided to just tell Sasuke the bare minimum for now and go from there, he could always tell if Sasuke were to react negatively, he would smell it. He found it saddening that he couldn't distinguish properly the happy emotions but could quite clearly distinguish the smell of most negative emotions. "I had a… confrontation with Ino's mom earlier, I thought I'd come pester you for a bit or something." Naruto looked at the ground, only just noticing the kunai he ha dropped and casually picked it up, doing an excellent impression of someone who was talking about something which wasn't all that serious.

Sasuke of course didn't fall for it, he knew something really bad had happened, or something which had deeply affected Naruto, because people don't just drop stuff they're consciously holding for no big reason, if he were surprised he would've noticed he dropped it and at least looked towards his hand or the kunai, but Naruto hadn't noticed he'd dropped the kunai, which meant it was something big. Of course Sasuke knew a lot about 'big' thing's and so he wouldn't press, even if he couldn't possibly imagine what Mrs Yamanaka could do that would affect Naruto like that, she was pretty harmless not to mention disgustingly nice and affectionate.

Naruto noticed Sasuke looking at him expectantly, he figured Sasuke was interested, even if only because he couldn't figure out why Naruto would have a confrontation with Ino's mom, he decided to test the water's though. "You wanna hear about it?"

Sasuke turned to continue gathering his kunai. "You obviously want to talk about it." Naruto could tell he was covering up his curiosity, it endeared him that instead of saying how he was curious he said how Naruto wanted to talk about it. Obviously it sounded on the surface that Sasuke wasn't particularly curious but it also sounded like he cared about how Naruto was feeling, which Sasuke hadn't probably realised. Naruto smiled slightly. "I… She found out about… this." Naruto grew his nails into claws, an action which was almost subconscious now and flexed them at Sasuke to emphasise the point.

Sasuke raised his eyebrow as he turned and saw Naruto flexing his claws at him, obviously referring to his bloodline. "You had a confrontation about your bloodline?"

Naruto looked down at his claw and watched them shrink to nails, then grew them, then shrunk them before looking up and replying. "It's not really a bloodline." Sasuke was definitely interested now. Not only because he had no idea what Naruto was on about, or because it was information about Naruto's abilities which had interested him for a while now, but he was interested in bloodlines in general, being the bearer of one himself he made it his business to know such things. Sasuke walked over to Naruto and sat down on the log the target Naruto had retrieved a kunai from was rested against. Idly Naruto sat next to him and looked at his claw for a few more moments, Sasuke kept quiet, it was obvious that Naruto was having a hard time with this.

Eventually Naruto looked up at Sasuke from his claw and stared at him for a moment. "If I tell you this, you can't tell anyone, ever." Sasuke was about to question why when Naruto continued. "I mean literally, it's the law, you _can't_ on penalty of death."

Sasuke froze with his mouth open. _'What the fuck?!'_ After a moment he closed his open mouth and not trusting his voice entirely as he was still shocked at Naruto bringing the death penalty into this, with deadly seriousness, he merely nodded. How in the hell could a confrontation with Ino's mom be related to the law and the death penalty?

Naruto looked at Sasuke for a moment before looking back at his claw as he began talking. "On the day I was born, the Fourth Hokage sealed the Kyuubi into my stomach, the seal manipulated my chakra coils and my soul, binding my chakra and my soul to the Kyuubi's so it couldn't escape, ever." Naruto paused and Sasuke was too shocked to do anything else than listen. "The Old man…" Sasuke probably wouldn't know who he meant by that. "Uh I mean Lord Hokage… made some rule or other that nobody was to talk about it, though people tended to just make up excuses to legitimise being mean, though it wasn't ever too bad, over priced banana here, no shopping in that shop, don't go in that alley, nothing major…" Naruto sighed and paused for a long moment. "Nine months or so ago, I was murdered by two ANBU and Mizuki, they hated me because of the fox. Lord Sesshoumaru resurrected me but in doing so some of the Kyuubi's power stayed with me."

Naruto looked at Sasuke, whose mouth was once again open and his eyes were wide, he wasn't exactly surprised to see such an expression, he would be surprised too. "As a result, I'm not exactly human anymore. That's why I have _claws_ and stuff." Naruto flexed his right claw at Sasuke in a mock clawing gesture. Sasuke immediately shut his mouth and raised his eyebrow, looking at Naruto incredulously for how stupid he looked with his dejected expression and half-hearted mock-clawing.

Sasuke evaluated the situation. This was all very shocking but it was all past-tense and didn't affect him at all, as such he could mull over the implications at his own leisure, nothing about Naruto had changed since moments ago and as such his opinion shouldn't change, though he would factor this into his evaluations of the blonde's fighting capabilities. He decided to offer some comfort to Naruto, though he wouldn't do so directly, heaven forbid. "So… She's angry at you for not dieing?" Sasuke asked Naruto incredulously, causing Naruto to stop his ridiculous clawing action after the third swipe.

Naruto raised his own eyebrow as Sasuke's facial expression settled into his customary smirk whenever he had done something clever, though he wasn't exactly sure what clever thing Sasuke had done, he did a lot of clever things so Naruto knew the expression quite well. "I uh… I'm not really sure, I bailed pretty fast." Sasuke looked at him questioningly. "Hey after being murdered for this shit you'd be jumpy too!" He quickly defended himself, not wanting to seem weak or wimpy in front of Sasuke.

Sasuke cocked his head to the side, he obviously couldn't relate but he was pretty sure Naruto was right, if he were ever to be murdered for something similar he too would be jumpy when confronted about it. He thought for a moment, Naruto said the Kyuubi was dead, so she had no right hating him, well less of a right since Naruto wasn't ever the raging terror that Kyuubi was. "Shouldn't she be thanking you, since its dead? It _is_ dead, right?" Naruto nodded. "So you basically died and took the Kyuubi down with you?" Naruto nodded. Sasuke leant back slightly and put his hand to his chin. "I would've thought you'd get more respect for that."

Naruto looked at him incredulously. "Oh yeah, and chick's _dig_ half-demon's."

Sasuke's trail of thought derailed immediately at Naruto's comment. He still knew of some girls talking of how hot and powerful the Fourth Hokage had been and how they would '_so_ do him' and such. If he could get even a small amount of the same thoughts to be held by girls their age about Naruto, maybe he could get some if not all of his fan girl's to chase after Naruto instead of him!

Naruto was getting a little disturbed at the maniacal expression blossoming on Sasuke's face. "Uh… Sasuke?"

Sasuke's eyes immediately focused on Naruto, he wasn't sure how he was going to do it without facing the death penalty, but it was an idea and it was worth a shot. "Say Naruto, let's go hang out in town for a bit?"

Naruto looked at him puzzled for a moment before shrugging. "Okay."

Sasuke resisted the urge to rub his hands together and chuckle and say 'Excellent'. This was all _too_ easy.

---)(---

Inside the Hokage's office, Inoichi and Sarutobi were discussing the events that had transpired within the flower shop, Ino had been made to wait outside.

Sarutobi was currently troubled, he had been worried about Naruto for some time but it was difficult as Naruto seemed to be purposefully keeping his distance from Sarutobi. He had heard from Naruto had a good time he had whilst he was at the Yamanaka's and he was worried how he would cope with this, even if Mrs Yamanaka came to accept Naruto he may remain withdrawn from her or possibly the entire family. "So you say you suspect Naruto heard your conversation but you're sure Ino didn't?"

Inoichi nodded nervously, unsure of the severity of the situation, his wife already knew of the Kyuubi within Naruto but would this count as a new breech of the law? "Yes, we were in a secluded part of the house and were also whispering, the boy must have exceptional hearing." Sarutobi nodded, he himself was unsure as to the exact extent of Naruto's hearing but he was certain both his auditory and olfactory abilities far surpassed anyone else's within the village.

"Very well, I'm glad you came to me with this. I will talk to Naruto about this later though I suggest you and your wife seek him out yourselves, don't worry you aren't in any trouble assuming you and your wife remain favourable to Naruto." Inoichi nodded, they had gotten off lightly, this served as a good reminder of how precious information could be in a ninja village and that one couldn't be too careful with sensitive information. "Would you please bring Ino in now?"

Inoichi nodded and got up and retrieved Ino. Ino had gone past irritation and pacing as they had been in there for a while now, even her worry about Naruto had fizzled down and she was mostly bored, so Inoichi found her sitting slumped in the chair counting the tiles on the floor which needed repairing. "Ino." Ino looked up at her dad. He motioned with his hand for her to enter. She did, a little confused at how serious her dad seemed, she figured it must be serious rather than just being anxious about upsetting the Hokage through Naruto, so she delayed her questions for now.

As she entered the Hokage stood up and gestured to one of the seats in front of his desk, she quickly went forward, bowed and sat down. Sarutobi sat down and looked at Ino with a rather gentle smile on his face, making her more at east, she didn't even notice her father enter the room. "Miss Ino, it is good to see you are well." Ino smiled, she didn't get that he _really_ meant it, seeing as she had Anko as a teacher. "Earlier today Naruto overheard a discussion about him between your mother and father, concerning his abilities." Ino nodded. "This is still a sensitive subject for Naruto so I will respect his privacy and keep his secret and I would ask that you not press him for information, he will tell you when he is ready." Ino nodded, still a little scared, even though she wasn't being told off or even in the wrong, she was still anxious in his presence, he was the most powerful ninja in the village for heaven's sake, she couldn't help but wonder exactly how quickly he could kill her if he wanted to.

Sarutobi didn't let his smile falter at how nervous Ino was, he never liked that but it did mean she respected him and his authority, so he had had to get used to the younger ninjas especially, being so nervous around him. He stood and the two Yamanaka's followed suit. "Well then, thank you for coming, I will speak to Naruto later and he will be ready for training tomorrow." He said the last part specifically to Ino. Both Ino and Inoichi bowed to Sarutobi before leaving. Sarutobi sighed and began constructing what he would say to Naruto later, already feeling guilty that it had come to this between the village he loved and protected and who he considered to be their hero.

---)(---

The entire way into the centre of Konoha Naruto had been pestering Sasuke, trying to convince him that they should most definitely get some ramen, he seemed to have forgotten his recent indifference toward the stuff, falling back into his habitual reverence and attempting to force his opinion upon Sasuke. Of course Sasuke only ate things which at least resembled healthy and nutritious and as such Naruto's 'persuasive' arguments had all failed. Instead Sasuke decided they should have a look at the weapons shops, Naruto didn't really mind this idea even though he protested on principle, he did find anything sharp, pointy and shiny to be of special interest to him, though he couldn't figure out why…

Sasuke however was secretly spying his surroundings, attempting to find flocks of girls he could force Naruto to walk past. He knew that Naruto didn't know the location of every weapons shop in Konoha and as such couldn't call him on their route through town, meaning to Naruto it would be a 'coincidence' that they would be accosted by Sasuke's fan's. So far there had been little success so Sasuke had taken them to an actual weapon store, this one was one of his favourites as their ninja wire was top notch.

Upon entering he went straight to the ninja wire section, obviously he preferred the stuff with resin on it to aid in conducting fire techniques, though he also liked the look of the razor wire, though he didn't want to try that out just yet as he didn't fancy losing a finger or two by accident.

Naruto however went straight to the swords, they were all far too long for him at his present stature but they were so shiny and cool and… shiny! He was broken out of his reverie when a voice from the back, linked to the footsteps Naruto had ignored in his awe of the swords, called out to him. "Oy. What do you think you're doing here?"

Naruto turned to the man, who was giving him a disgusted look. He was at a complete loss as to what to do, how to react. Normally he'd just run off, possibly crying depending on how harsh the shop owner had been but now he knew why and he knew it wasn't fair. They owed him so should he step up and challenge the man? Should he step down and hope for the best? Luckily for him Sasuke responded whilst still looking at the wire. "I'm looking at your wire, do you have any with that new teflon coating and the fire resin?" Sasuke finally turned from where he was looking for said item amongst the many rolls of wire attached to the wall to see the man looking at him in confusion. "You know, so that if someone survives being burnt the wire will still be useful." The man blinked for a moment.

He glanced at Naruto. "Ah I believe we do have some of that, expensive stuff but I'm sure that's no problem for you, but could you just wait one moment sir?" Then he turned to Naruto. "Get lost, you're not welcome here."

Naruto took a step back at the hostility displayed by the man, it was all quite depressing, he couldn't really be bothered to get angry at him as he normally would as his depression from earlier that day was still in the back of his mind and it only took that not so gentle nudge to bring it forth. Before Naruto could do anything else however Sasuke had already acted. "Why, pray tell, are you being so hostile to my friend here?" Sasuke sauntered towards the counter behind which the man was looking at him in confusion. "It's especially rude since he's of nobility, you can tell by the clothes." Sasuke waved in Naruto's direction. "So your reason had better be especially good." Sasuke paused and raised an eyebrow at the man. "It _is_ good, right?"

Naruto stared at Sasuke in shock, what the hell was he doing? The man however was in turmoil, he didn't know what the state of the law was now after nine months ago there had been a ruckus where Ninja had gone around the village informing people that the Kyuubi was dead and that it was now basically treason to insult the ex-container for the demon. Of course he knew, being the clever man he is, that this was just a ploy by the demon in it's plan to kill them all and he would make sure not to help it by supplying it with weapons. However what that basically meant is that where one death penalty had gone another had replaced it and now he didn't know what to say, especially to one of his most valued customers.

Sasuke went there quite often to purchase new wire, since his old wire tended to warp and break under the stress of his fire techniques and now that he was graduated he would be using up supplies in missions and such at a greater rate, not to mention being the shop the last Uchiha went to for all his wire needs was a boon for business. "Well?" Sasuke prodded seeing as the man had spaced out.

The man snapped his attention to Sasuke and immediately began attempting to form a coherent response. "Ah well, you know, he's…" The man stopped himself, he couldn't say that, what _could_ he say?

Sasuke didn't let the man continue. "Ah tut tut…" Sasuke waved his finger side to side in a very patronising gesture. "Aren't there rules against that? Why, isn't the penalty rather… _severe_ or something?" Naruto stared at Sasuke, what the hell was he doing, was he… standing up for him, for _Naruto_? He couldn't bring himself to stop Sasuke, even though he was adamant that he should, he just couldn't bring himself to prevent this from happening, to prevent someone standing up for him, _him_.

The man went pasty white and stilled impressively, how could Sasuke know that, he wasn't allowed to know that by the very same knowledge that he knew, which he shouldn't! He decided blatant lies would be the best option to get out of this one. "Ah Mr Uchiha, Sir, I believe you have me mistaken!" Sasuke raised his eyebrow as the man floundered for more to say on the subject, obviously knowing he had to justify that statement by saying what he really did mean, which would be hard as he had to make something up to replace what he had actually meant and make it believable.

Sasuke decided he had toyed with the man enough. "It is obvious what you meant." The man stilled in his stuttering, Sasuke began towards the door. "I wonder how scandalized everyone will be when they find out that you threw me out of your store, and with such vile language as well…" Sasuke then turned and finished leaving, the man staring after him. Naruto was looking between Sasuke and the man, clearly astounded, he was about to make after Sasuke when the man dropped from his stupor and sped after Sasuke, managing to get in front of Sasuke just as he was holding the door open and about to exit.

Panting a little, as it would seem the man didn't often use such speed and as such was wholly unprepared for it physically, the man tried to diffuse the situation, he pulled a reel of wire from a pocket in his overalls. "Now, Mr Uchiha, Sir, don't be too hasty. Here, that wire you were looking for, on the house, to make up for offending you, sir." The man was practically grovelling to Sasuke and it was rather sickening to see a grown man act as such.

Sasuke considered the wire for a moment before turning to Naruto. "Naruto, are you any good with fire techniques, or wire?" Naruto shook his head slowly, pretty sure he had told Sasuke at the academy how he couldn't do any ninja techniques, though wire sounded quite interesting. Sasuke looked back to the man. "What use is this?" The man looked to the wire and back to Sasuke and back to the wire, clearly dumbfounded. This was top quality wire, very few places in the entirety of Konoha had access to this stuff, surely having it_free_ would be a good peace offering? Sasuke continued. "You not only insult my friend, and myself by proxy, but then you apologize to me and attempt to bribe me to save your reputation, do you think so little of me that I would be so dishonourable as to accept this?" Sasuke stepped forward.

Truly, Sasuke didn't really care about the smith's perceived insult to himself, nor did he really care that the guy didn't like Naruto, it was _why_ he didn't like Naruto that got him. Though normally that wouldn't get him going, and in fact it hadn't, but Sasuke was nothing but an opportunist, he could be angry at someone and cheer Naruto up at the same time! This was the Uchiha Sasuke golden opportunity to save face whilst also being a good… dare he admit it to himself? Friend… He knew all about how this was the number one store to go to for ninja wire, he also knew this wasn't the case four years ago until he had taken to the art of ninja wire to supplement his fire techniques, it didn't take a genius, even if he happened to be one, to connect the two. As such Sasuke thought the man owed him a little and he was willing to collect in order to cheer Naruto up, as such he felt no guilt about the massive guilt-trip slash black-mail tirade he was going on.

Naruto chose this moment to try and interject. "Sasuke, it's okay, really…"

Sasuke whirled on Naruto, it was tempting to lecture Naruto about not taking crap like this from anyone but that likely wouldn't help towards cheering him up. Sasuke silently turned around after having an idea, he faced the man. "I believe some of your finest razor wire would go a long way towards making Naruto feel better, don't you?"

The man quickly caught on, happy to save his business's reputation, as well as escape a possible charge of treason. "Ah yes, one of our specialties, I was just thinking the same thing, heh… heh." He quickly scampered off before returning with a spool of rather sparkly wire, though it wasn't sparkly for any wholesome reasons like being polished, the sparkles were more to do with the many fine indentations and edges marked into the wire which gave it that razor cutting edge which would slice through even the user's hands if he let it slip along the wire, though Naruto still thought it was pretty.

The man stopped himself just before going to hand Sasuke the wire and instead went towards Naruto and shakily held the wire out. Naruto, rather befuddled at the entire situation just went along, accepting the wire he looked to the man, who seemed rather scared at the moment, and that's without his ability to smell how scared the man was. "Ah… uh… thank you." Naruto graciously accepted and fumbled for a place to store the wire, eventually ending up hooking it to his sash with the rather handy belt hook that was attached to the spool, he marvelled for a moment at the ingenuity.

It took that long for Sasuke to exit the shop and be standing outside waiting for Naruto. Naruto looked up and found this out, he quickly dashed to the door. "Oy wait up!" He paused at the door and turned to the smith. "Uh… thanks for the wire." He then quickly ran out of the shop and caught up with Sasuke.

Sasuke was scanning around looking for some of the girls who usually threw themselves at him, he was convinced some of them were under orders from their parents to do so, which was highly disturbing, though from their behaviour it didn't seem they minded, those under orders would be harder to fob off on Naruto but the others he had a good chance, maybe he could get one of the leaders after Naruto, then some sheep would follow, yes… He was brought out of his musing when Naruto overtook him and stopped in front of him. "What?"

Naruto half-heartedly glared at Sasuke. "What was all that?!"

Sasuke raised his eyebrow at Naruto whilst composing his response so as to not damage Naruto's cheer any further. "He was dangerously close to breaking the law and incurring the death penalty, was he not? Not only that but his entire reputation is based on the fact that I buy my ninja wire from there. I think telling him off and getting some free wire is the least of his worries in comparison to his reputation or his life." Sasuke continued scanning around, after a moment he spotted a group of girls out shopping behind Naruto, excellent.

Naruto didn't really feel up to arguing, especially when he couldn't quite convince himself that what Sasuke did was wrong, at all, though he knew the last part was blackmail. Speaking of which, why the hell did Sasuke get that guy to give him some ninja wire, he didn't have any idea how to use the stuff and Sasuke gets him some _razor_ wire… That's definitely going to end well. "Say, why _razor_ wire?"

Sasuke turned from glaring in the girls direction, hoping to either kill them or gain their attention via said glare, there was no way he was walking over to them, that would most certainly end badly. "Normal wire isn't used for offensive techniques on its own, it's used for traps or binding enemies. To use wire offensively you need fire or lightning techniques though the second was known to use water techniques." He turned his attention away from Naruto again.

Naruto decided to rephrase his question. "Okay… why _wire_ at all?"

Sasuke didn't bother turning back towards Naruto. "You can't use ninja techniques anymore, only _bloodline_ abilities. That doesn't mean you can't use weaponry and such, wire is good for traps and back-up plans, razor wire is good for traps and offensive attacks and backup plans. There are Jounin level ninja whose entire fighting style is based on wire."

Naruto stared at Sasuke dumbfounded with his mouth in a small 'o' shape. He began to focus on his hearing when he noticed several voices all repeating Sasuke's name in hushed tones somewhere behind him, before he could turn and investigate however a shrill cry resonated throughout the area. "Hi Sasuke!"

Sasuke grimaced as Naruto winced in literal pain from the cry. Naruto was internally reminded of Ino's infatuation with Sasuke, which reminded him of the Yamanaka's, so he became subdued by the time the girl's arrived. Only one thought went through Sasuke's mind however as the girls loomed closer. _'The harpies are descending'_. He also had to concentrate to fight his fight or flight instincts.

Once they arrived Naruto was shunted off to the side by the girls, though he made no move to protest, he couldn't really find it in him to bother.

Sasuke watched Naruto allow himself to be pushed out of the way as if he had been expecting it, and he probably had, it happened at the academy fairly often before he disappeared. For the first time in probably ever, Sasuke grew angry with his fan girls, rather than the standard 'Leave me alone, I wouldn't care if you died' annoyance he usually felt towards them. He was still thinking tactically though so instead of shouting at them, which he had recently discovered felt really good, he would handle the situation in a manner which wouldn't lead to them having negative feelings towards him or possibly Naruto. So he ignored them as he usually does and walked over to Naruto, brushing past two girls rather rudely as he did so.

He tried his best to not listen to what the girls were saying to him or arguing about amongst themselves, though sometimes it really was quite hard, such as one argument he overheard that because he was now a ninja he should be starting to sire his heirs or something like that, he stopped listening promptly. Luckily most of their voices were the same incessant high pitch as each other and so they all blended into one large screeching annoyance rather than anything intelligible for the most part.

Having pushed past the girls to get to Naruto, he roughly pushed the other boy's shoulder turning him so they were face to face, also causing Naruto to look up at Sasuke. Sasuke jerked his head slightly towards the direction they had previously been going. "Come on, you'll need a guide to the basics of using that wire." And began walking off, pausing after a few steps for Naruto to catch up, which he quickly did.

After a few moments walking with Sasuke and trying to comprehend the entire girl's situation, who he had noticed were trailing behind them, Naruto gave up. He couldn't quite grasp not revelling in the attention they were giving Sasuke, even if they did so in a rather high pitched manner. "Hey, Sasuke." Sasuke looked at him as he kept walking. "What about them?" Naruto jerked his head backwards lightly to indicate their small crowd of followers.

Sasuke looked back at them, unintentionally causing them to think that he was interested in them, some even got the impression that he was being noble and hanging out with the loser some thought to have dropped out of the academy, so he couldn't stay and spend time with them. Sasuke looked back towards Naruto. "What about them?"

Naruto paused for a moment, he was about to say something when one of the girls shouted out to Sasuke. "Sasuke! Why not ditch the loser and come hang out with us?!"

Sasuke stopped walking and turned back to them. Naruto muttered to him. "Not how I would've phrased it but… yeah." Sasuke only spared him a glance before glaring back at the girls. Secretly pleased at how this was going.

All he needed is to act like a bit of an ass and get Naruto to stick up for the girls, then slip in some hints of their friendship and how Naruto's sponsored by some Lord and presto, he should be free. Of course the part Sasuke was most looking forward to was obviously the acting like an ass part. "Do I know any of you?"

Naruto stayed back, figuring Sasuke was going to be giving the girls some attention, he didn't really mind, Sasuke had already stuck up for him earlier after all.

The girls didn't really get the obvious hint that he didn't care enough about them to remember them, even though they had mostly gone to the same academy. In front of the group was a rather pretty and lithe looking girl in rather flamboyant and unprotective adaptation of ninja apparel, a black skin-tight long-sleeved top with a pink kimono styled top over it held together at the waist and stopping just below, having a rather low cut, she also had a matching pink skirt in the same material. She straightened out her shoulder length dirty blonde hair as she stepped forward to speak for the group. "We went to the same Academy, Sasuke! Well, except for Megumi." Here she pointed to a girl who was presumably named Megumi. "She went to the North Konoha Academy." Spokesperson girl then proceeded to clasp her hands together in front of her in a rather cute gesture, though it was completely lost on Sasuke, as these girls, he thinks anyway, had been doing these kinds of things in front of him for ages and it was just annoying rather than cute to him. "Do you want to come and spent some time with us Sasuke? You don't have to spend time with the loser if you don't want to." Of course Sasuke presumed that somehow this girl had figured that she was being generous and rescuing him or something from spending time with Naruto, someone who he felt could actually understand him, also someone who was worth spending time with, also someone who was a decent ninja.

Not someone who probably didn't graduate, Ah, a perfect avenue for Sasuke to begin upon. "So, how many of you have passed your instructor's exams?"

The girls all went suspiciously quiet at this question. Sasuke made a rather loud huff and turned to go, remarking over his shoulder. "Not worth talking to."

Mostly due to the arrogance Sasuke was displaying, but also due to the scathing nature of his comments, Naruto found himself wanting to stick up for the girls, even though they had treated him so poorly only moments before hand. "Hey Sasuke, that's not fair. Those exams are really hard!" Of course Naruto hadn't experienced any test from his Jounin instructor and had assumed Sasuke meant the Genin tests administered by the Academies, which he had failed in the past, but which weren't actually hard at all even for these girls. Luckily for Naruto, everyone assumed he _was_ referring to the tests administered by the potential Jounin teacher's and so nobody thought his comment was strange at all.

Sasuke smirked on the inside. "You're sticking up for them." It wasn't a question and Naruto didn't answer. "Why would you stick up for them when only moments ago they brushed you aside, called you a loser." Naruto lowered his head, not really having a comeback for that. Sasuke turned to the girls. "How can you call him a loser when you can't even become Genin. Lord Hokage himself administered Naruto's Genin test, hell he lives in Lord Hokage's house! Not only that, he's got a Lord sponsoring him." Sasuke paused for a moment, considering for the first time actually how impressive all of that was. "Well?"

The girls stayed silent, so Naruto decided to try and defend them, though his heart wasn't really in it anymore. "Don't be so harsh, you know I failed the Genin exam twice before…" Sasuke looked at Naruto with his eyebrow raised, obviously questioning. "I took it early, twice."

Sasuke silently stared at the girls, praying they'd feel ashamed and ask to spend time with both him and Naruto.

All the girls were in fact, feeling ashamed of how they had treated Naruto, especially so when it was pointed out to them how callous they had been and how casually they had done it. The same spokesperson-girl gathered her courage and meekly spoke to the boys. "We… then maybe… could we… all of us… spend some time together?"

Sasuke again smirked on the inside, perfect. Outwardly he kept up his grim façade, not wanting to show any happiness at spending time with the girls lest they think it's because of them spending time with him, not them spending time with someone that was _not_ him, which happened to be the case. He looked to Naruto, who looked unsure, so he decided he couldn't really be bothered to be subtle anymore, all this acting and being in the girls presence was annoying him, so he decided to just be blatant, though under the cover of a plausible reason, of course. "Naruto you talk to the girls. I'm going to get that instruction book on wires." Sasuke immediately turned and headed towards a shop he frequented for instruction scrolls for ninja techniques or training techniques or anything of the sort. They had been selling him things that should only be sold to qualified Genin for a long time now, and recently thins only Chuunin should have access to, now that he was an actual Genin he wondered what he could get out of them. It was not likely that he would return very soon.

Naruto turned from looking at the girl in a rather dumbfounded manner to see Sasuke already heading off, he could faintly smell the annoyance that Sasuke had been giving off when he had been standing there, so he decided to let him leave. There was also this other scent, which was stronger than annoyance, but Naruto had no idea what it was so he left it for now. He turned around to the girl closest to him, the one he had mentally dubbed spokesperson-girl and introduced himself, easily masking how nervous he was and coming across as completely calm and confident, he thought Sesshoumaru would be impressed or proud of him. "Hi, my name's Uzumaki Naruto, nice to meet you."

Of course all the girls knew who he was, though they rarely paid him any attention, now that Sasuke was gone and they were stuck with Naruto, who they felt guilty about insulting, and as such weren't necessarily averse to spending time with him to make up for it. It didn't take long for them to notice the new clothes Naruto sported, very regal, obviously something to do with the lord who was apparently sponsoring him. His hair also looked eerily reminiscent of the fourth Hokage's hair, though a little shorter, and though he had been dead for their entire lifetime many of the girls still harboured strong attractions towards the man.

Seeing as how Naruto had spoken to her and had introduced himself, spokesperson-girl introduced herself back, noticing Naruto's rather attractive features and his regal outfit for the first time due to Sasuke's absence, also feeling the attention of all the other girl's on her, she blushed as she spoke. "Hi, my name's Chloe. Nice to meet you too."

---)(---

Sasuke entered the weapons shop and found that instead of the usual shop attendant manning the counter his daughter was there. Her name was Tenten and Sasuke remembered her name because she was better at throwing weapons than him, though that may not be the case anymore, Sasuke silently thanked Naruto. He made his way to the area of their scroll collection which dealt with wire, he was surprised to find that the manual on razor wire was restricted to Chuunin and above access, he reached for the scroll regardless.

Tenten had followed Sasuke as he had entered, she was debating whether or not to goad him on how she was better than him at something, it amused her a lot though he had been getting better rapidly so she was nervous that one day she would goad him only to find herself being the one shown up, she didn't get a chance to however when Sasuke reached for a high shelf containing a Chuunin level scroll. "Hey Sasuke, I know you're a Genin now and all but that's a Chuunin only scroll."

Sasuke calmly turned to her, still holding the scroll he had withdrawn. He looked at it and then to her before a plan formed in his mind. "This isn't for me, go get your dad, I'm sure he'll let me have it once I explain it to him."

Tenten paused for a moment but acquiesced eventually. Sasuke hoped that once Shin was here his daughter would go off to do something else so he might get access to some better scrolls than previously, though with what he was planning he figured Shin would likely ask Tenten to leave anyway, though after that he probably wouldn't be too generous for a while. Sasuke found an interesting scroll on trapping enemies with wire using Shuriken and Kunai, this too was restricted and he resolved to have it soon, there was a section in the Uchiha library on using the Sharingan to similar effect, but he didn't have that yet so he would practice the normal technique so that he could easily adapt to the more advanced Sharingan based version once he was able.

Sasuke turned when he heard the door at the back open and saw Shin walk out and look at Sasuke quizzically. "Well then, what's so important you had to get Tenten to fetch me from the workshop?" Sasuke waited for a moment and luckily Tenten didn't seem to be returning, excellent. "I would like this scroll." Sasuke showed the scroll to Shin.

Shin raised his eyebrow. "I know I let you get away with having advanced scrolls every now and then but this is a little much isn't it? Besides razor wire is nasty stuff, you should probably stick to that fire wire stuff."

Sasuke shook his head. "It's not for me, it's for Uzumaki Naruto." Shin raised his eyebrow and stood still for a while. Sasuke figured he was caught up between refusing and trying not to answer why he would be refusing. "You know the Kyuubi is dead and you're alive, I think you owe him at least one scroll, don't you?"

Shin literally froze. There was no way Sasuke should know that, how the hell did he know? He decided not to risk an answer which would provide any more information to Sasuke than was necessary, in fact he decided to find out just how the hell Sasuke knew that. "What do you mean the Kyuubi is dead, it's been dead for years. What does that have to do with Naruto?"

Sasuke rolled his eyes and grabbed the wire entrapment scroll. "I'd like this one for me." He put both scrolls on the counter. Shin just stared at him expecting an answer and expecting that his glare would gain one, Sasuke didn't seem to be of that school of thought however. "Am I paying for both or is that scroll going to be a gift for Naruto?" Sasuke pointed to the razor wire scroll.

Shin shook his head and began to speak when Sasuke quickly shushed him. Shin's immediate reaction was to clam up and look around for Tenten, however Tenten wasn't around. When he looked back Sasuke had almost finished counting out the money for both scrolls, Sasuke looked up at Shin as he finished. "Be careful what you say now, there's a law or something, right?" Sasuke smirked at Shin as he put the money down on the counter.

Shin's anger began to grow as Sasuke's cocky behaviour got to him. "What the hell kind of stunt are you trying to pull here boy?" He grabbed both scrolls and put them angrily into a drawer under the counter and slammed both hands down, making a very intimidating picture in doing so.

Sasuke was actually fairly intimidated but didn't dare show it, instead he kept up the attitude which he termed superior or of the moral high ground, but that Shin had labelled cocky. "I'm sure you know that Naruto was murdered nine months ago." Shin froze, standing up slightly straighter but no longer intimidating at all, his mouth agape as it was. "You specialize in kunai and stuff, right? What do you think the chances are that he was murdered with one of your weapons? And you don't have an excuse to hate him anymore, the Kyuubi's dead." Shin retreated from the counter top beginning to sputter though nothing particularly coherent came out.

Eventually after some time to compose himself Shin decided to attempt to deny one or more of the accusations at once, as that was obviously the best option. "I didn't… I would never… It's not…"

Sasuke had actually gotten ahead of himself, he only wanted the scroll for Naruto and maybe to make it so Naruto could get higher level scrolls here too, he figured drilling into Shin's head that he owed Naruto would do the trick, god knows he didn't owe Sasuke anything but he still gave him special treatment so why not Naruto? It made perfect sense in his head but Sasuke got carried away when Shin shouted at him and shouted back. Sasuke decided that if he left Shin long enough to compose himself, he would retaliate, so he decided to keep up the offensive. "I wonder, has Naruto ever come in here, asking to buy something?" It was a perfect way out, if he said yes and he sold Naruto stuff, then Sasuke could just say well now he's killed the Kyuubi Shin owes him extra or something, so give him the scroll and if he says yes but he didn't sell Naruto stuff then instant guilt trip and if he says Naruto didn't come in at all then he can say Shin should start acting grateful.

Shin however didn't answer at all, which was a possibility that Sasuke hadn't accounted for, he just stood there staring at Sasuke. "Well?"

Shin turned his head to the side and spoke. "Get out, Uchiha."

Sasuke however smirked, that came under category number two, which was the easiest to deal with, though he had been expecting a straight answer. "Ah I see, I wonder what Lord Hokage will think about that, hmm? You know Naruto's living with him now?" Sasuke walked up to the scroll shelves and pulled out another copy of each of the scrolls he had picked out before, he walked over to the counter and put them down.

Shin stared blankly at the scrolls now on the counter, not entirely sure what to do. He looked at Sasuke and after a long moment spoke in a rather subdued voice. "It's bad for business… ya' know, sellin' stuff to the kid…"

Sasuke snorted, now sure of his victory. "If it was me I'd get strong and kill everyone who was alive because it had happened to me, because if they're not grateful for being saved then they deserve to be un-saved." Sasuke looked at Shin who was looking down in shame. He took out enough money for his own scroll and put it down and took both before walking off. "I'll tell Naruto you insisted he have this for free, a gesture or something."

Shin watched Sasuke go, completely torn on what to do, what the hell _do_ you do when some annoyingly smart kid comes in and points out that you've participated in mistreating a kid whose been proven innocent now? Not a lot you can do. Idly he worried over how terrifyingly good at manipulating people Sasuke had become already.

---)(---

Sasuke arrived back to where he had left Naruto with the horde of banshee's to find them no longer present, well that wasn't entirely true, he could still hear the wails of the banshee's. Looking around he found them not far off on a small patch of grass, all the girls were standing around muttering to each other or looking impressed or squealing whenever something dramatic happened, all their focus was upon Naruto and Chloe going through what he recognised as a ballet routine. Well Chloe was going through the routine and Naruto was copying her as best he could, which was worryingly impressive, considering Sasuke felt it safe to assume he had never even attempted ballet before.

Coming up with a suitably witty insult, Sasuke walked towards them, as soon as the girls surrounding Naruto and Chloe noticed him they parted, though they were still focused on the performance. Sasuke quietly contemplated that his plan was most likely a success. He threw the scroll to Naruto, who heard the paper being tussled by the air as it passed through it and quickly stopped his routine as he was using his hands for balance then snatched it out of the air before it could hit him. "Hey Sasuke, took you a while."

Sasuke shrugged. "I thought you wanted to save princesses not _be_ a princess." Naruto growled whilst the girls giggled. "Shin, the guy in the weapons shop over there." Sasuke pointed to a sign above the crowd in the street they were next to. "Said that scroll was on the house."

Naruto looked at the scroll. "Wow, awesome! Hey this says it's for Chuunin only!" Naruto looked at Sasuke pretending to be scandalised but inside he was giddy.

Sasuke looked off to the side and shrugged, showing his own Chuunin only scroll to Naruto. Some of the girls 'ooh' and 'aah'ed at that, since the boys had only just become Genin.

Chloe went over to Naruto, grabbed his hand and lifted it up as she bent down to read the title of the scroll. "Wow, you're learning to use razor wire? Isn't that ridiculously dangerous?" She looked up at Naruto with concern.

Sasuke smirked as all the girls attention was focused on Naruto, he quietly slipped out of the ring and into the crowd on the street, planning to get Naruto some more fan girl's very soon.

Naruto smiled sheepishly and scratched his head. "Yeah, but don't worry I heal really quickly so even if I cut myself it doesn't really matter."

Chloe gaped at him for a moment as did other girls. One bold girl stepped forward and asked. "What do you mean you heal quickly?"

Naruto looked at her. "Ah I'll show you, hey Sasuke could I… Sasuke?" Naruto looked around, Sasuke must've gone off somewhere, he could find him later. "Ah he must be off getting more scrolls, anyway, watch." Naruto had been planning to borrow a kunai from Sasuke as he didn't fancy elongating his nails in front of the girls he'd only just met. Instead he grabbed the end of the razor wire that was poking out of the spindle and jerked his fingers across it and off the end. All the girls gasped as he opened his fingers showing fresh blood.

Chloe rushed forward and grabbed his hand whilst getting a tissue out of her pocket. "Oh my god! Why did you do that?!" She quickly set about cleaning his cut up and wrapping it in the tissue, she was planning to get a plaster out after she was done but she was stopped as Naruto's other hand gently grabbed her own.

"Don't worry." He gently eased his hand out of the tissue she was still holding. "Look, see? Already gone."

"Wow." Chloe iterated quietly, her sentiment was echoed by all.

A brown haired girl in a pink top stepped forward, her eyes sparkling. "That was so cool! What else can you do?"

Naruto grinned and looked over to a small tree growing out of the edge of the small grassy area. "Check this out…"

---)(---

It was late when Naruto finally returned to Sarutobi's manor, he had spent the entire day with the girls fooling around. As soon as he had demonstrated his energy whip on a tree they had squealed so loudly his ears had rung for minutes. They had played hide and seek for a while before everyone decided Naruto was cheating somehow, which lead to him telling them about his senses, which lead to more squealing.

When he had shown the girls his extra jumping technique they had been awed, and had thankfully held back on the volume of their squealing, though squeal they did. Chloe had insisted that he should learn ballet, specifically from the same school as her, because it combined with marital arts and his extra jumping would go really well together.

It was at that point that Naruto finally noticed a smell coming from the girls, it had been faint but it had gotten stronger over the day he realised, especially strong from Chloe, but he had no idea what it meant, only that it had gotten stronger still when he had agreed and found out where and when the ballet classes were.

Not long before he left to go home, or rather they left to go home as they had curfew, the girls – under the leadership of Chloe – had voted to re-name Naruto's extra jumping technique, since he was outvoted unanimously his extra jumping technique was now called the 'Spirit of the Air' technique, a name which sounded far too fluffy and un-cool for his tastes. He vowed to think of something even cooler than extra jumping, so cool that they would vote for that instead.

His walk home had been in a slight daze as each girl had given him a hug before departing, beginning with Chloe, who very tentatively approached Naruto, who looked at her with a small amount of trepidation as she did so, not really understanding what she was up to, and her nervousness due to the fact that Sasuke refused to let them touch him whenever possible, especially refusing any hugs. Though once she had initiated the hug, and he had hugged back gently, all the other girls gained confidence and queued up for their turn, it was a new and unique experience for Naruto. All his life physical interaction consisted of neutral or negative situations, being told off, being handed stuff he had bought, being patted on the head for doing something silly, but never anything so warm and comforting. He definitely wanted more of those 'hug' things.

From the front door he could smell a conflagration of inviting fragrances he associated with the kitchen and more specifically roast dinner, something he was quickly becoming addicted to. He quickly dashed to the kitchen, slowing down once he entered so as not to knock anything, especially not any of the precious food. Even the vegetables were so delicious, though most of them had been roasted in the juices of the animal – a large section of pork today – that the meal was based around.

Finally letting his concentration slip away from the deliciously roasted meat before him Naruto spied Sarutobi sitting across the table from him smiling at him warmly. "Hey Old man!"

Sarutobi smiled wider for a moment before replying. "Hello Naruto, you seem rather chipper." He then dug back into his plate, he too greatly valued a roast dinner, though already his love was surpassed by Naruto's growing addiction.

Naruto smiled as he sat down and began loading his plate, actually starting with the vegetables, something which again caused Sarutobi to smile, for he had finally gotten rid of Naruto's phobia of vegetables. "Yeah, I helped Sasuke with some crazy hard kunai throwing exercise and then we went into town and I got some razor wire from a shop and then we met some of Sasuke's friends and then he got me a manual…" Naruto paused as he gobbled up an entire potato, covered in gravy. "… for the wire and…"

Sarutobi interrupted him. "Naruto, it's not polite to talk with your mouth full."

Naruto swallowed before continuing. "Sorry. Anyway after that Sasuke disappeared and we played hide and seek and I showed the girls my awesome abilities and I'm going to get ballet lessons to help my Taijutsu and they gave me these 'hug' things." Naruto made air quotes as he said the word 'hug', he then ate a bit of meat. "This is awesome Old man!"

Sarutobi merely nodded as he chewed on a bite of his own meal. He had had to quickly get used to Naruto's excited babble, whenever something good happened to him things came out of his mouth in what could only be described as a constant stream of thought. He had also definitely picked up on Naruto referring to these friends of Sasuke's as 'girls' meaning he had spent a lot of his day with a group of girls. Sarutobi had a feeling that Sasuke had disappeared so as to offload these girls onto Naruto, though that was anything but a bad thing.

Sarutobi swallowed his mouthful and decided to bring up the topic of his earlier meeting with two of the Yamanaka's. "Mr Yamanaka came to see me today." Naruto stopped eating and looked up at him, his face as schooled as he could get it, though Sarutobi could tell he was nervous. "He was concerned that something or other at their house had upset you." He paused and ate a few carrots, so as to ease the tension, letting Naruto know it was nothing serious as he was still eating so casually. Naruto understood the gesture but didn't make any move to loosen up. Sarutobi continued after swallowing. "He assures me that their shop is still open to you any time you want to visit and that they were just a little surprised is all."

Naruto didn't answer for a moment. And Sarutobi didn't begin eating again either, waiting for Naruto's response. "I could smell it, she was afraid of me."

Sarutobi smiled warmly at Naruto. "She probably was Naruto, afraid that is. There are many sources of fear though. Perhaps she was afraid of she or her husband facing treason, or perhaps she was afraid you would get the wrong idea and hate them for talking about you, hmm?" Sarutobi went back to his food, sure that Naruto's fears were sufficiently assuaged.

Naruto wasn't quite ready to keep eating yet. "But…" He also wasn't entirely sure what to think or how to ask about it either.

Sarutobi smiled. "You have team training tomorrow, I'm sure you can ask young miss Yamanaka about it then, she seemed quite concerned about how you ran off when I saw her earlier today."

Naruto immediately perked up, though it was hard to tell, Sarutobi was nothing if not observant. "Really? She was?"

Sarutobi idly nodded and hummed an affirmative as he chewed his food. Naruto smiled lightly and got back to his own food.

---)(---

That night an ANBU appeared in Sarutobi's study in a poof of smoke, Sarutobi didn't give any reaction, as if he had been expecting such a sudden intrusion. The figure wordlessly put down a folder next to the piece of paper Sarutobi was writing on and stepped back to wait for his Lord's instructions. Sarutobi quickly finished off the document he had been working on and grabbed the folder. Within was a summary of Danzou's activities, both those he had willingly participated in under supervision and those he had been 'allowed' to do 'privately' but which had also been reported in great detail. There was also some information Danzou had provided which was meant to be a summary of the reports from his spies.

Danzou's general activities were very standard, day to day maintenance of the ANBU corps and other such activities, however his secret activities were rather more disturbing, he had apparently created an underground training facility and it was operating at optimum capacity. Luckily the supports in all the rooms weren't covered and were made of wood, so Sarutobi's spy had no trouble making detailed observations of their movements and activities as well as spying in on their plans for the future, all of which was summarised inside.

There was nothing particularly detrimental to Konoha at a first glance, however Sarutobi was no fool and he knew Danzou very well, if left to continue Danzou could single handedly cause the downfall of Konoha the way he was going.

Also the information he had been given was a bastardization of a report he had from Jiraiya four years ago on a group called Akatsuki which at the time had included Orochimaru. He knew this as the report claimed Orochimaru was still a part of said organisation where as Jiraiya's latest report stated otherwise. He would have to thank Jiraiya for being too lax to date his reports or anything so formal. Danzou must've taken it, as the most recent available and thought it was somewhat recent.

Sarutobi turned to the ANBU and sighed wearily. He then stood up and faced the man, staring directly into the eyes of the mask, he spoke with all his authority as the Hokage, this was serious. "Commander, assemble two ANBU of your choosing and… dispose of Danzou. You have one month, I want no evidence at all, he must disappear. Is that understood?"

The ANBU was a little shocked, though after gathering the information his Lord had just read over, he had suspected this as a possibility, though he thought it to be of the more remote possibilities. Still, as a professional he gained his composure almost immediately and saluted. "Yes Lord Hokage, as you wish." He then vanished from the room, a puff of smoke and an open folder on the desk the only evidence of his presence.

Sarutobi lit his pipe as he all but fell back into his chair, his eyes glassy. He murmured to himself between puffs. "I'm sorry old friend, you have gone too far this time."

---)(---

Anyone interested in being my Beta reader? PM me with your e-mail address, I'll send you my word document of all the past chapters (or you can just go on whatever) to look at, it still has quite a few typos here and there which need fixing but I really can't be bothered /


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